FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Brooklyn Teenager Indicted for Allegedly Shooting
Eight-Year-Old Girl Sitting in Van
Bullet Struck Victim in the Back of Her Head
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 16-year-old Brooklyn teenager has been indicted for attempted murder and assault for allegedly shooting a child who was sitting in a van in Canarsie. The bullet struck the girl in the back of her head and lodged in her skull.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant had the audacity to allegedly open fire during rush hour in the middle of a busy street, striking an innocent young girl who thankfully survived. Senseless gun violence will never be tolerated in Brooklyn and this defendant will now face the consequences of his poor choices.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Tajay Richards, 16, of Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo on an indictment in which he is charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and related counts. The defendant was ordered held on $500,000 bail and to return to court on May 21, 2018. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted of the top count.
The District Attorney said that on February 26, 2018, at about 5:30 p.m., in the vicinity of Flatlands Avenue and East 83rd Street, the defendant allegedly opened fire on a group of individuals and struck an 8-year-old girl who was among a group of children sitting in a van, according to the investigation.
The bullet struck the girl in the back of the head and lodged in her skull, leaving her in critical condition.
The defendant admitted to police that he fired a gun toward a group of individuals at that location.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Vivian Dussek, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Sean Hughes, of the District Attorney’s Trial Bureau Red Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Nicole Chavis, VCE Bureau Chief and Assistant District Attorney Kin Ng, Red Zone Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Joseph Alexis, Chief of the District Attorney’s Trial Division.
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An indictment is merely an accusation and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.