Matthew Rodriguez, 18, has been arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with the drive-by shooting that killed seven-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore in Brooklyn, New York police said on Friday.
Rodriguez is the second suspect taken into custody after Amuri Greene, 21, who was arrested shortly after the shooting on Wednesday. Greene pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges on Friday night. According to a court complaint, Greene, riding on the back of a moped, fired into a group of people on a street corner, striking the infant in the head.
Kaori's mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, told the New York Post that she initially thought the sound was fireworks. After comforting her two-year-old son, who was grazed by a bullet, she saw her daughter bleeding. "My daughter was innocent. She didn’t deserve that," she said. The baby had recently started crawling and saying "Mama".
Police said the moped crashed into a car two blocks away, injuring Greene, who was taken into custody at hospital. The driver fled. Authorities have not detailed Rodriguez's alleged role, but said they were not seeking anyone else besides the gunman and the driver.
The shooting has drawn condemnation from New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who described it as "a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience".
