2nd suspect arrested in killing of 7-month-old baby shot in stroller, police say
A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a 7-month-old girl in a stroller, the New York City Police Department said Friday.
Matthew Rodriguez, 18, was taken into custody in Pennsylvania by NYPD detectives assigned to the US Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force, police said. Charges are pending, according to police.
His arrest comes after the alleged shooter -- 21-year-old Amuri Greene -- was arrested and charged with three counts of murder and attempted murder, police said.
Greene allegedly fired shots from the back of a moped into a crowd in Brooklyn that struck and killed 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore and grazed her 2-year-old brother as they sat in a stroller on Wednesday afternoon.
Greene is a known associate of a street gang operating out of a public housing project in Brooklyn, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said at a press conference on Thursday. Investigators are looking into whether the baby's father may have been the intended target as part of a dispute with a rival gang.
The shooting was reported at about 1:20 p.m. on the corner of Humboldt and Moore streets in the East Williamsburg area, according to police.
Several adults, including two people with strollers, and several other children, were nearby when two males approached the intersection on a moped, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The rear passenger on the moped pulled out a gun and fired at least two shots toward the corner, Tisch told reporters, citing surveillance video.
"Today our city suffered a horrifying, senseless tragedy: a 7-month-old child being pushed in a stroller along a busy Brooklyn sidewalk was shot and killed in broad daylight," the police commissioner said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The baby was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
After the shooting, the two suspects collided with an oncoming car about two blocks away, police said. Both men were thrown from the moped. The rear passenger, who fits the description of the shooter, was taken to the hospital, Tisch said.
The other passenger took off, but police later located the moped.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the shooting a "devastating reminder" of the work that remains to be done to combat gun violence.
"A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant," Mamdani said. "There are no words that can mend the heartbreak this family is feeling now."
