STRANGER DANGER

Man Shot 15 Minutes After Jail Release

After hitching a ride.

A 33-year-old man in upstate New York was shot Thursday only 15 minutes after being released from prison, where he had just served a 15-year sentence. The victim was released from Otisville State Prison with a train ticket for a trip to a halfway house when a gunman (whom the victim had once allegedly snitched on) in a white Hyundai offered him a ride. Two miles later, the car pulled over and someone popped out of the trunk and shot the victim twice. He was able to make it to a Metro-North station, where workers called for help. The victim was taken to a local hospital and identified the suspects, Jerome A. Mack and Edgar Wilson, both 35. Both suspects were arrested on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that night. The victim had served time for criminal sale of a controlled substance, weapons, and assault.