Teen Charged With Shooting Girl, 11, In Bedford-Stuyvesant
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 17-year-old boy was in police custody Saturday morning, facing an attempted murder charge in the shooting of a child six years younger in Brooklyn.
Kane Cooper was charged with shooting the 11-year-old girl around 8:30 p.m., as she stood at the corner of Gates and Throop avenues in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The girl, identified as Tayloni Mazyck was not believed to be the intended target.
Teen Charged With Shooting Girl, 11, In Bedford-Stuyvesant
Police said Cooper was walking down Throop Avenue and began shooting at two other men who were walking out of a building on Gates Avenue. Tayloni was walking out of a nearby building and was struck in the neck by a bullet Cooper fired, police said.
The youngster was shot in the neck, and the bullet traveled down to her lower spine. Her dried blood remained on the sidewalk where she was standing very innocently.
Tayloni was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where she was initially reported in serious condition before she underwent surgery. She was later transferred to Columbia University Medical Center to recover, police said.
As 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported, Tayloni's family members were openly crying as they held onto each other, and held onto her graduation picture. She was due to graduate P.S. 44 later this month.
Tayloni's father, Robert Mazyck, said his daughter could speak but could not move.
"She's my baby. My baby. She's paralyzed from the neck down right now," Mazyck said. "We're waiting for the neurologists, but she's in good spirits."
Community leaders joined the family, and promised to stick together to fight violence.
"We are calling for a special and real NYPD and Community Task Force to be convened to discuss how to nip this craziness in the bud," Community Advocate Tony Herbert said.
The suspect, who is known to officers in the 79th Precinct, was caught on surveillance video, police said. The precinct Anti-Crime Team began canvassing the area and found the suspect at Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Madison Street, where he was arrested.
Cooper was charged with attempted murder and assault.
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