Suspects arrested in murder of 1-year-old in Brooklyn
NEW YORK - Police arrested two suspects in the murder of a toddler who was killed when gunmen fired into a crowd in Brooklyn last summer, police said Thursday.
Dashawn Austin, 25, was arrested Wednesday on charges including murder and attempted murder in the July 12, 2020, shooting that killed 1-year-old Davell Gardner Jr. and wounded three other people. It wasn't clear if Austin had an attorney who could comment on the charges against him.
The New York Times reports a second man was also arrested in connection with the case.
Gardner was shot in the stomach as he sat in a stroller at a late evening cookout. Three other men in the group suffered gunshot wounds but survived.
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The NYPD said two men stepped out of a sport utility vehicle and opened fire into a playground in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
The little boy's death shocked New York City and his funeral was widely covered in the media.
The arrests were part of a larger roundup of 18 suspected gang members in Brooklyn.
"Insidious gang violence as we allege in this case has taken and traumatized far too many lives, including many innocents such as Davell Gardner — a bright and loved baby boy with his whole life ahead of him," District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. "Today's indictment of these alleged Hoolies gang members is the second part of a larger investigation that saw 19 of their rival 900 gang members indicted in January for violent crimes, including some who were charged with multiple shootings and murder."