Second suspect arrested in Brooklyn stray-bullet killing of seven-month-old baby | Brooklyn
A second suspect was arrested Friday in the stray bullet death of a seven-month-old baby on a Brooklyn street, investigators said, two days after the shooting that the New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner called “a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience.”
According to authorities, 18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez was captured in Pennsylvania by NYPD detectives working with U.S. marshals.
Suspected shooter Amuri Greene, 21, was arrested shortly after the shooting that left Kaori Patterson-Moore dead. Greene pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges at a hearing Friday night.
Kaori was in her stroller as two men sped down the street on a moped Wednesday afternoon. According to the court complaint, Greene, who was sitting in the back of the vehicle, shot at a group of people on a street corner.
Kaori’s mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, said: New York Post After hearing what she initially believed to be fireworks, she was consoling her two-year-old son, who had been grazed by a bullet, when she looked to her left and saw her little girl bleeding. The baby had been shot in the head.
“My daughter was innocent. She did not deserve this,” Charles-Moore told the newspaper. She said her daughter is about to start crawling and has recently started saying “Mom.”
Research Gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety found that firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States. However, over the years, Congress has been unable or unwilling to implement more comprehensive gun control in the United States.
Greene told police he was targeting another person in the crowd, according to the court complaint.
Police said the motorcycle accelerated and crashed into a car two blocks away, and both men were thrown from the vehicle. Greene was injured and was soon taken to hospital and taken into police custody, but the motorcyclist escaped.
Authorities have not yet released court documents detailing Rodriguez’s alleged role. However, they did not indicate that they were looking for anyone other than the gunman and the motorcyclist allegedly identified as Greene.
Greene was being held without bail following his arraignment. A voicemail requesting comment was left for his attorney.
Police have no information yet on how the men were connected or where Rodriguez lives. A working phone number for him could not immediately be found.
Police charges were pending against him.
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and police commissioner Jessica Tisch expressed their sadness and anger over Kaori’s death.
“This is a terrible day in our city, a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience,” Tisch said at a news conference Wednesday.
