Bullets pierced the air. One strayed. It flew into a stroller and struck a baby girl. The baby’s mother collapsed to the ground and began to scream.
“Baby, baby, baby!” the mother said, according to a witness at the scene in Brooklyn on Wednesday. “The baby’s shot!’”
The father pulled his baby into his arms and ran to the emergency room of Woodhull Medical Center, three blocks away, where she was pronounced dead.
The same bullet that struck the baby also grazed her brother’s back, the police said. On Thursday afternoon, a man named Amuri Greene, 21, was arrested in connection with the shooting, the police said. He was charged with multiple counts, including murder, attempted murder and assault.
People standing nearby the scene, at the corner of Moore and Humboldt Streets in the Williamsburg neighborhood, were confused. One of them, Bernius Maldonado, initially mistook the sound of gunshots on the chilly Wednesday afternoon for firecrackers. The baby’s father picked up the baby, who was bleeding and lifeless, said Ms. Maldonado, who urged him to take the baby to the hospital.
Her name was Kaori Patterson-Moore. She was 7 months old. Hours later, her pink beanie lay on the sidewalk, covered in blood.
“A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Wednesday at a news conference near the scene.
At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Vincent Valcassel walked out of the Bravo Supermarket on Humboldt Street and heard two men arguing, he later said. About 15 minutes after that, the police said, two men rode a scooter northbound on Humboldt, traveling the wrong direction on the one-way street.
The man in front appeared to lean forward over the handlebars, according to a photo of the shooting released by the police. On the seat behind him, the other man pivoted left and raised a handgun. At least two gunshots echoed across the intersection, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch later said at the news conference on Wednesday.
A group of adults, two strollers and several children were gathered on the corner, Ms. Tisch said.
After the shooting, the two men continued riding against traffic until their moped crashed into an oncoming car two blocks away, Ms. Tisch said. The passenger on the moped’s back seat fell to the pavement with such force that he lost both of his shoes, she said. He was transported to the Brooklyn Hospital Center, where police investigators found that his clothing and appearance matched those of the shooter, Ms. Tisch said. He was taken into custody at the hospital in relation to an investigation unrelated to the shooting, she said.
The shooting appears to have been “gang motivated,” said Ms. Tisch, without providing additional details. The moped’s driver remains at large.
“Right now, he is the subject of a massive N.Y.P.D. manhunt, and all New York City police officers have a very clear picture of this outstanding suspect on their phones,” said Ms. Tisch, who added that “N.Y.P.D. bloodhounds are currently working to track his movements.”
The moped and the shooter’s shoes were later recovered by the police, she said.
Christopher Maag is a reporter covering the New York City region for The Times.
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