New York police arrest second teenager in connection with shooting death of 11-year-old girl in the Bronx
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By Liam Reilly and Aya Elamroussi, CNN
A second teen allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old girl in New York’s Bronx neighborhood last week was arrested Monday after turning himself in, the New York Police Department said.
Omar Bojang, 18, is believed to have been driving the moped from which his passenger, aged 15, allegedly fired a gun in an attempt to harm a 13-year-old boy, police said. Instead of striking the boy, a bullet struck 11-year-old Kyhara Tay, they said.
Police are recommending charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon for Bojang, though it’s unclear what charges will be filed by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. CNN has been unable to identify an attorney for Bojang.
The 15-year-old suspect was arrested Friday without incident at a hotel in the Bronx, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said. The teenager and his mother had booked the room the night before, he said.
The 15-year-old faces charges of murder in the second degree, first-degree manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, Essig said.
CNN has reached out to the Bronx District Attorney’s office to inquire whether the 15-year-old has retained an attorney.
The shooting unfolded last Monday just before 5 p.m., authorities have said. Kyhara was hit in her abdomen and died later that night at a hospital. The fatal shooting comes as New York grapples with an uptick of gun violence that has reached even the city’s youngest. In January, a stray bullet hit an 11-month old girl in the face while she was sitting with her mother in a parked car on a Bronx street.
On Friday, New York Mayor Eric Adams spoke at a news conference about the killing, calling it “kids killing kids.” CNN has reached out to Adams’ office for comment.
Victims are often ages “11, 15, 18. Over and over again, we’re seeing 11, 15, 18,” said Adams. “Illegal guns as easy to buy as candy and comic books. They are everywhere.”
Adams added that since being sworn in, his administration has removed 2,887 guns from the streets, but new firearms continue show up.
Speaking at Friday’s news conference, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the alleged shooter “ended the life of a totally innocent, completely uninvolved 11-year-old girl.”
“I won’t say she was in the wrong place because why shouldn’t an 11-year-old child be able to stand outside in broad daylight?”
So far this year, 16 children under the age of 17 have been shot in the Bronx, said Darcel Clark, the borough’s district attorney. Eleven of those victims were under 15, and five of whom were under 14, Clark said.
“We have to focus on gun violence all the time,” Clark said.
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