Investigators arrested a Bronx teenager for the May 10 shooting of a 30-year-old man who was killed on his way to purchase flowers to place on his mom’s grave for Mother’s Day, police and family said.
The suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was arrested and charged Monday with second-degree murder in the killing of Darren Davis, the NYPD announced Wednesday.
The shooting occurred at around 8:30 p.m. in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx when the teen opened fire, striking Davis and a 42-year-old woman near the corner of Willis Avenue and 138th Street, cops said.
Davis was struck in the chest and collapsed in front of a bodega, just steps from the smoke shop where he had finished working his shift, police said. He was pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital.
The woman was shot in the leg and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Neither victim knew the gunman, but police weren’t able to say for sure whether the victims were targeted or innocent bystanders.
Davis’ family was almost at a loss for words over what they described as a senseless killing and devastating loss as they slammed his accused murderer.
“I don’t — I have no words for it, you understand? Like, you took somebody’s life,” the victim’s cousin, Lashaye Davis, said of his killer. “You kind of – not kind of – you actually destroyed our family behind that.”
Lashaye, 31, said that Darren was “lovable” and “full of joy and life.”
“He was just an outstanding person that was there for everybody,” she told The Post.
She was glad the alleged shooter – even though he is still just a teenager – is in custody.
“I really don’t have no remorse for the little boy,” Lashaye said.
Darren’s grandmother, Alfair Davis, 81, was relieved as well that they caught the suspect.
“I was grateful and I am glad he is in custody.”
She said she will always remember her grandson with fondness.
“Darren was the type of person [who] never got into no problems,” she said. “He never had a problem with nobody. He was just a beautiful person.”
It was not immediately clear whether the suspected killer — whose name hasn’t been released because he’s a minor — will face additional charges for shooting and wounding the female victim.
The arrest of the teen comes amid a spate of gang-related youth violence in recent weeks in the south Bronx.
On May 12, Evette Jeffrey, a 16-year-old innocently riding her scooter near a schoolyard, was shot in the head and killed by a stray bullet fired by a 14-year-old who was handed a gun by a 13-year-old, according to cops.
Just 24 hours later, an 11-year-old boy was injured when a stray bullet fired by a teen involved in a gang dispute went flying through the rear window of the car he was a passenger in. He suffered injuries related to the shattered glass, while the adult driver was shot in the shoulder.
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