By AP
New York — Police say a second suspect connected to the stray-bullet killing of a 7-month-old in Brooklyn was arrested Friday, two days after the shooting that city officials called a shocking tragedy.
Authorities identified the newly detained suspect as 18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez. The NYPD said detectives working with U.S. Marshals took Rodriguez into custody in Pennsylvania.
The suspected shooter, 21-year-old Amuri Greene, was arrested shortly after the drive-by shooting that killed Kaori Patterson-Moore. Greene pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges at an arraignment Friday and is being held without bail.
According to court papers, Kaori was in a stroller Wednesday afternoon when two men sped past on a moped and gunfire erupted. Greene, riding on the rear of the moped, fired into a group of people on a street corner, the complaint said.
Kaori’s mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, told media she initially thought the noise was fireworks. She said she was comforting her startled 2-year-old son, who was grazed by a bullet, when she turned and saw her infant daughter bleeding. The baby was struck in the head and later died.
Greene told police he had been aiming at another person in the crowd, the complaint said.
Police said the moped sped on and crashed into a car two blocks away, throwing both men from the vehicle. Greene was injured, hospitalized and remained in police custody; the moped’s driver fled the scene.
Officials have not publicly described Rodriguez’s alleged role in the shooting and have not signaled that investigators are looking for additional suspects beyond the gunman and the moped driver. Charges against Rodriguez were pending Friday, and court records did not list Greene’s attorney. Police also said they had no immediate information on how Greene and Rodriguez know one another or where Rodriguez lives.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch expressed heartbreak and outrage over the infant’s death. “This is a terrible day in our city, a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience,” Tisch said at a news briefing Wednesday.
