Brownsville Residents Rally Against Violence In Wake Of Toddler's Slaying
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - AAs police held two suspects in the shooting that killed a toddler in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a crowd rallied in the neighborhood to stop the violence Sunday.
A sea of men in business suits gathered in front of the makeshift memorial for Antiq. As 1010 WINS' Gene Michaels reported, they were in business suits because they were about to take on the tough business of stopping gun violence in Brownsville.
Brownsville Residents Rally Against Violence In Wake Of Toddler's Slaying
State Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) organized the event.
"Let me tell you why we're here," Adams said. "Carriages and strollers are places you protect life. Our community won't have their strollers become caskets for our children."
Meanwhile, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes updated the crowd on the case against the two suspects.
"This case will go to the grand jury this week," he said. "There'll be indictments, and there'll be prosecution, and if these two are found guilty, they'll go to jail for a very, very long period of time."
Suspect Daquan Breland pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in New York on Saturday, a day after he and alleged accomplice Daquan Wright, 19, were arrested in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. in the slaying of 1-year-old Antiq Hennis.
"One eyewitness to the tragic shooting on Sunday has ID'd Daquan Breland as the shooter, and told police that Daquan Wright handed the gun to Breland, who then pulled the trigger," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said Friday.
Authorities say the boy's parents were pushing him in a stroller while crossing a street in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn last Sunday evening when gunfire broke out. The child was struck on the left side of his face and pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police believe the child's father was the intended target, and the shooting may have been gang-related.
Anthony Hennis, 22, had just picked up Antiq at the home of the baby's mother, Cherise Miller, to take him to visit Hennis' grandmother, police said. Hennis put the boy in the stroller and was pushing him across the street when four shots were fired, according to police.
Kelly said the motive for the shooting is still unclear and the boy's father was not cooperating with the investigation.
Witnesses have said the men were standing in the street when Wright handed the gun to Breland, who they allege pulled the trigger. The gun has not been recovered.
Antiq was laid to rest following an emotional service Friday.
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