Both men allegedly responsible for the stray-bullet killing of 7-month-old 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore in Brooklyn last week were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday.
Obtained by amNewYork
Both men allegedly responsible for the stray-bullet shooting of 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore in Brooklyn last week were indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday.
The attorney for Amuri Greene, 21, the man who allegedly pulled the trigger from the back of the moped, waived his client’s appearance in Brooklyn Criminal Court and was not on hand when the indictment was handed down on April 7.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez insinuated that the suspect did not appear due to the notability of the case. Greene remains in custody pending arraignment.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez remains in Pennsylvania, where he fled following the tragic slaying, and is facing extradition back to the Big Apple by next week.
“What I’m able to report today is that both men, the person we allege is the shooter, Amuri Greene, and the driver of the moped that was used during this drive-by shooting, have been apprehended and have been indicted by a grand jury,” Gonzalez said following the court hearing. “What makes this case so devastating is not only was a 7-month-old girl stolen from us, but she was not the intended target. She was in her stroller with her two-year old baby brother.”
The shooting unfolded at the intersection of Humboldt and Moore Streets just after 1:20 p.m. on April 1 and saw a man fire several shots from the back of a moped. The fatal bullet struck Patterson-Moore in the face, although it was not immediately clear to the parents, who did not discover she had been hit until they reached a nearby deli.
The girl’s father scooped her up and raced her to the nearby Woodhull Hospital, where witnesses told amNewYork that he pleaded for doctors to save the child.
“I was in the hospital when the father brought the baby in,” one woman told amNewYork. “The dad brought the baby in. The dad was screaming, ‘Save my baby!’ And the mother was screaming at the top of her lungs.”
Was the baby’s father targeted?
Greene allegedly told cops that the killing of Patterson-Moore was a fatal mistake and that he was, instead, aiming for the girl’s father — something that the family has pushed back.
On Tuesday, Gonzalez was quizzed about the father being the intended target, though he says that aspect is still unclear.
“There is a lot of information out there, including some statements that were made by the defendant. We allege that this was a targeted attempt at a person, but I am not prepared to say today definitively that the father was the target,” Gonzalez said. “We know that he was intending to shoot at a person in that crowd, and the baby’s father was among those people in that crowd, but I don’t think it’s completely 100% clear to me that they knew who he was.”
The loss of the child that afternoon left a profound cloud of despair over the community, with locals putting together makeshift memorials for the child in the days following the incident.
Relatives told amNewYork that the baby was just beginning the next stages of her life, only just beginning to walk and talk.
Linda Oyinkonyan, Patterson-Moore’s grandmother, recalled the horrific moment she was teaching at a school and learned the news.
“She said your granddaughter got shot in the head. The bullet went through her head,” Oyinkonyan recalled while bursting into tears. “I fell out on the floor. I blacked out.”
According to Gonzalez, Patterson-Moore’s brother, who was apparently grazed by the same bullet that killed his sister, has been traumatized.
“Physically, he is going to survive his injuries. He’s healing emotionally. My understanding is that this is very hard for him. He’s asking for his sister, and he’s been traumatized,” Gonzalez said. “This is really heart-wrenching stuff.”
