A man was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old Queens boy, whom he mistook for a rival gang member, the authorities said.
The teenager, Aamir Griffin, was playing basketball at the playground at Baisley Park Houses, the complex where he lived in Jamaica, Queens, on an October night in 2019 when the man, Sean Brown, then 16, shot at him from about 100 yards away.
Aamir, who the authorities said was not involved in any gang activities, was struck in the upper chest; the bullet pierced both of his lungs, and he later died at a hospital.
Mr. Brown, 21, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree, as well as to conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon.
“Aamir Griffin’s killer has been brought to justice, but we know the heartache continues for his loved ones,” said Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, in a statement. “No child should feel unsafe going to a park, and no parent should ever have to bury a child.”
Aamir’s killing came at a time when crime was near an all-time low in New York City, months before the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the rise in gun violence that followed. The rates of shootings and murders in the city fell from the pandemic peak last year, a trend seen in other cities like Detroit and Los Angeles.
Aamir’s killing was not an isolated incident, according to officials and reports at the time. Two days after he was shot, a 16-year-old girl in Jamaica was struck in the arm by a stray bullet when a fight erupted during dismissal at a high school. Shortly after, two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old were arrested and charged with a string of shootings in the area, including the girl’s.
“They are shooting at individuals and hitting unintended targets,” Dermot F. Shea, the Police Department’s chief of detectives at the time, said.
Aamir’s killing stemmed from a feud between gangs of young people — Money World and their rivals Local Trap Stars and Never Forget Loyalty, officials said. By the time Aamir was shot, there had been 22 shootings among the gangs, including a fatal one, according to officials.
As Aamir shot hoops around 8 p.m., three shots were fired in his direction, officials said.
Video footage showed Mr. Brown running from the area and entering a nearby deli, according to the district attorney’s office. Later, Mr. Brown was seen walking to the home of another Money World gang member, officials said.
Surveillance video picked up Mr. Brown talking about the shooting, saying “I hit him” and mentioning that he had seen his target “drop.”
Mr. Brown was indicted in 2021 on murder and weapons charges in the shooting and was one of 33 alleged gang members who were indicted on murder and gun violence charges in Queens last year.
The whole situation is “tragic all around,” said Camille Russell, Mr. Brown’s lawyer.
“Aamir Griffin lost his life, and it’s a tragedy also for the Brown family,” she said. “Today, Sean was sentenced to 30 years, and his position is he wants to avail himself of the process.”
Mr. Brown has filed a notice of appeal, Ms. Russell said, because he believes that the sentence is excessive and the judge should have given him the opportunity to withdraw his plea in March.
Aamir was a fixture in his tight-knit corner of Jamaica and an athlete, according to those who knew him.
He was preparing to be the shooting guard for his junior varsity basketball team, they said, and had been accepted to Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, where he hoped to learn from its storied coach, Ron Naclerio.
He often spent his evenings at the court in front of his home and dreamed of making a professional career out of the sport, family and friends said. On the night of his killing, he was just following his routine.
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