Tragic Shooting Claims Life of 7-Month-Old Girl in Brooklyn
A heartbreaking incident unfolded in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, April 1, when a 7-month-old girl was killed by a stray bullet while her parents were pushing her in a stroller. The child, identified as Kaori, was seated with her 2-year-old brother in a double stroller near Humboldt and Moore Streets in East Williamsburg when the shooting occurred.
Mother Recalls the Horrific Moment
In a phone interview, the mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, 20, described the terrifying scene. "We thought it was fireworks, but my son jumped out of the stroller, and I picked him up and carried him," she recalled. "I was hugging him, and then when I looked to my left, my daughter was just there, lying there. She was shot in the head. She was just bleeding. It was just too much."
The tearful mother revealed that her 2-year-old son had also been grazed in his back by a bullet and has been asking for his sister ever since the fatal shooting. "My daughter was innocent. She didn't deserve that. We were just going outside to go get her a few things, and my son a few things. My son got impacted with everything that happened, yeah, so it was just too much, because they could have killed my son and my daughter," Charles-Moore said.
Family Remembers a Bubbly Baby
Family members remembered Kaori as a bubbly baby who was "always laughing" and had just reached heartbreaking milestones. "She just started saying, 'Mama,' she just started, like, almost about to crawl, like it was just a whole bunch of stuff that she was just learning how to do," her mother shared.
Kaori's grandmother, Linda Moore Oyinkoinyan, a 3-K public school teacher, recalled collapsing at her job after receiving a frantic call from her daughter. "I was supposed to get them today or tomorrow. I'm a teacher, so I have off, and I was going to take them," Oyinkoinyan said. "My daughter called me at my job. She was screaming. I had to hang up on her. She was scaring me. She said, 'They shot Kaori in the head.' She was screaming. She was frantic. I just passed out in the class," the grandmother recounted, with her heartbroken grandson holding her hand.
Oyinkoinyan remembered her slain granddaughter as a "beautiful spirit" who was always giggling. "She was loving. She was caring. Always smiling. She was very smart. The baby was very beautiful. She brought a lot of people together," she said, adding, "It's heartbreaking."
Police Investigation and Details
The shooting, described as gang-related by authorities, took place around 1:20 p.m. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated at a press briefing that gunmen pulled up on a moped and opened fire into a crowd before speeding off. Surveillance photos captured the shooter firing from the back of the moped as the driver fled the scene.
The suspects then crashed the moped into an oncoming car two blocks away, throwing the passenger to the pavement so forcefully that his shoes flew off his feet, according to Tisch. He was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital, where he was identified as a person of interest in the shooting and is being questioned in an unrelated domestic incident.
Sources indicate that the girl was not the intended target of the gunfire, but it remains unclear if the shooters were aiming for her parents or other bystanders. A massive NYPD manhunt is now underway to apprehend the second suspect and track his movements, as confirmed by police officials.
