A 7-month-old girl was shot and killed in Williamsburg, possibly with a stray bullet, on Wednesday afternoon.
Two suspects on board a moped fired the fatal shot near the corner of Moore and Humboldt Streets in East Williamsburg just before 1:25 p.m. on April 1, police reported. The wounded child, identified by police as Kaori Patterson-Moore of Lafayette Avenue, died a short time later at a local hospital.
The pair of perpetrators fled on the moped to the corner of Manhattan Avenue and Seigel Street, where they crashed into another vehicle. One of the suspects wound up falling off the ride, and was hospitalized with injuries. Police would take him into custody later on an unrelated domestic violence charge, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday.
The other suspect involved in the deadly shooting remains at large with an active citywide manhunt underway, Tisch added.
“All New York City police officers have a very clear picture of this outstanding suspect on their phone,” the commissioner said during a press conference outside the 90th Precinct stationhouse on Wednesday afternoon. “In addition, NYPD bloodhounds are currently working to track his movements.”
The crime sent shockwaves of anguish and anger throughout the city. Mayor Zohran Mamdani lamented the tragedy, saying the incident was “a devastating reminder of just how much more work there is to be done to combat gun violence across the city.”
“A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant,” Mamdani said. “There are no words that can mend the heartbreak this family is feeling now, no declaration strong enough to lift the grief they are now forced to carry, no embrace wide enough to heal the hole that has been left in their lives. That sorrow is only deepened by the fact that this is not the first family in our city to know this pain.”
Police said the female infant victim was being pushed in a stroller by her parents when shots rang out, law enforcement sources said. Upon hearing the shots, the family sought refuge at a nearby bodega.
Seconds later, they discovered the baby was bleeding from a gunshot wound.
“I was in the hospital when the father brought the baby in,” one woman said. “The dad brought the baby in. The dad was screaming, ‘Save my baby!’ And the mother was screaming at the top of her lungs.”
The infant was rushed to nearby Woodhull Hospital; despite all efforts, she could not be saved, sources said.
Tisch said the baby was not an intentional target. While the motive remains under investigation, she noted, detectives believe the shooting may have been gang-related.
“There was so many people trying to help. It was chaotic. It’s like a movie happened so fast, you know, and it’s just, it’s crazy,” said another eyewitness, Vincent Valcassel. “When I heard that shot, I just ducked down, and I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to look. I heard people screaming, ‘baby, baby, baby, the baby. Shot the baby. Shot the baby.'”
Police said the suspects rode to the corner of Manhattan Avenue and Seigel Street, about two blocks west of the shooting scene, where they crashed into an oncoming car. The collision, Tisch said, threw both suspects off the moped and to the pavement.
The arrested individual was the rear passenger and suspected shooter; Tisch said he landed so hard on the pavement that he lost both of his shoes, which were eventually recovered. Police said his clothing and appearance matched the shooter’s description.
Meanwhile, cops continue to seek the moped operator, who was described as a male wearing a black surgical mask over his lower face, a white t-shirt and light gray pants. He was last seen fleeing toward the Marcy Houses, a public housing complex in the vicinity of Park and Marcy Avenues.
“My heart is heavy today after a baby’s life was stolen by this senseless act of gun violence in Brooklyn. I’m praying for this child’s family and loved ones. May they rest in peace. We must keep working to end gun violence,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote on X.
The 90th Precinct had reported just two shootings year-to-date through March 29. There had been no homicides up to that point this year.
This story was first published on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site amNewYork.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Last updated 4/2/26, 9:51 a.m.
