The NYPD has arrested two suspects in connection with the tragic shooting that killed 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore.
Police apprehended 21-year-old Amuri Greene soon after the shooting on April 1, but have now found his accomplice, 18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez, after he fled to Pennsylvania. The men rode on a moped together, with Rodriguez driving and Greene allegedly firing shots from the back.
“Officials say Rodriguez was identified through his suspected gang ties and his fingerprints left on the scooter, recovered by police in the hours after the shooting,” ABC 7 reports. “Rodriguez has one prior arrest as a juvenile that is sealed. Greene also has a juvenile record which is sealed.”
Greene was charged with murder, attempted murder, and assault. He was arraigned from his hospital bed, where he is being treated for a broken leg (the men collided with a car shortly after fleeing the scene on the moped).
The shooting occurred at Humboldt and Moore streets around 1:20 pm on April 1. Kaori Patterson-Moore was in a stroller pushed by her mom alongside her 2-year-old brother and father when shots rang out. The family fled for cover in a nearby deli, where they realized what had happened. Patterson-Moore’s father rushed her to NYC Health and Hospitals/Woodhull on foot, but sadly, she succumbed to her injuries.
Police believe the suspects meant to target Patterson-Moore’s father, Jamari Patterson, who allegedly had ties to a gang in the Bushwick Houses NYCHA development.
The community held a vigil in memory of the infant on Saturday, April 4, attended by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
Patterson wrote in a letter shared with the media that he hoped to turn his life around when tragedy struck.
“I wanted to spend my entire life being her father…When they put my baby in the incubator because she was premature, I couldn’t wait to take her home and just have her with me hugging and loving her forever,” said Patterson.
“You were always so bubbly happy and smiling always brightening our mood me and Daddy and your brother love you forever and ever,” Kaori Patterson-Moore’s mom wrote on TikTok.
A GoFundMe campaign to support the family has almost met its goal of $55,000.