Times Square Shooting: Florida Judge Orders Suspect Farrakhan Muhammad Held Without Bail
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The man accused in last weekend's Times Square shooting that wounded three people, including a child, appeared in a Florida courtroom on Thursday.
Farrakhan Muhammad was arrested Wednesday in a fast food parking lot near Jacksonville, CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported.
Shackled in a red jumpsuit, Muhammad made his first appearance before a judge.
"Mr. Muhammad, you're wanted out of the state of New York for attempted murder, sir," the judge said.
He ordered Muhammad held without bail as he consulted with an attorney about his extradition options.
Muhammad's accomplice and girlfriend, 22-year-old Kristine Vergara, whose family lives in Jacksonville, stands accused of helping Muhammad elude police. She is being held on $500,000 bond.
"Based upon the nature and circumstances of the charge, as well as a lack of ties to Bradford County, I do find that you present a flight risk," the judge said.
Muhammad and Vergara were on the run after police say Muhammad opened fire in Times Square on Saturday afternoon. Investigators say he was trying to shoot his brother during a fight over sidewalk space where they were illegally selling CDs, but instead the bullets hit three innocent people -- a 43-year-old woman from Passaic, New Jersey, a 23-year-old tourist from Rhode Island, and a 4-year-old girl from Brooklyn.
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Police say Muhammad, 31, cut his hair to change his appearance and headed south with his girlfriend, making it all the way to Florida before they were apprehended.
U.S. Marshals were first tipped off on Muhammad's whereabouts when someone spotted him buying dog food in a Walmart in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
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His trail lead authorities to a McDonald's parking lot in Starke, Florida, where he was eating lunch in a car with Vergara.
He did not resist arrest, and reportedly claims he was not in New York at the time of the Times Square shooting.
All three of the victims from Saturday's shooting are expected to make a full recovery, officials said.
