Taiquan Cullum Guilty Of Killing Paul LaRue

On Thursday, June 26, a Nassau County jury determined that a gang member who was seeking retribution for an attempted murder had assisted in the death of a bystander in a drive-by shooting.

LaRue, Paul

On Friday, June 27, 2025, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that Taiquan Tay Tay Cullum, 35, of Hempstead, had been found guilty of two charges of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree and Murder in the Second Degree.

Donnelly claims that on July 28, 2019, at approximately 1:57 a.m., Cullum was the target of a shooting outside the D Ambiance pub in Baldwin. During a fight, Jermaine Grant fired seven shots at Cullum. After surviving, Cullum struck back later that morning.

Cullum grabbed co-defendant Deion Barros and pulled out a gun. In an attempt to find Grant, the two drove about Hempstead. Rather, they discovered Grant’s buddy Paul LaRue, 36, who had also attended the club but was not involved in the shooting, parked at a red light in his Mercedes Benz near the intersection of Clinton Street and Fulton Avenue.

LaRue was killed after Barros allegedly fired fire from the vehicle, killing him three times. The two then drove away.

According to Donnelly, this was a cowardly act of retribution that killed an innocent man who was unrelated to the conflict. Cullum’s decision to respond to aggression with violence has left Paul LaRue’s family permanently damaged.

On August 22, 2023, homicide detectives from the Nassau County Police Department captured Cullum while he was confined at the Otisville Correctional Facility. The jury returned a conviction in less than five hours after his trial started on June 9, 2025. At his sentencing on August 25, 2025, he could receive a sentence of up to 40 years to life in prison.

The man who tried to kill Cullum, Jermaine Grant, was found guilty on October 27, 2022, of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and attempted murder in the second degree. On December 2, 2022, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The 29-year-old Barros is still being charged with LaRue’s murder.

Gilbert Bayonne, Esq., and Philip Pierre, Esq., represented Cullum. Under the direction of Executive Assistant District Attorney Kevin Higgins and Jared Rosenblatt, Senior Litigation Counsel Stefanie Palma handled the case’s prosecution.