Second Suspect Arrested in Brooklyn Shooting That Killed 7-Month-Old Kaori

Matthew Rodriguez, 18, was arrested in Pennsylvania on April 3, three days after a drive-by shooting in Brooklyn killed 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore, who was struck in the head while sitting in a stroller on a residential street corner.

Federal marshals and NYPD detectives worked jointly to locate and apprehend Rodriguez, marking the second arrest in a case that has drawn public outrage from city officials and intensified scrutiny of gun violence in Brooklyn's neighborhoods.

The shooting occurred on March 31 when two men on a moped sped through a residential block and opened fire into a crowd. Kaori's mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, told the New York Post that she initially mistook the gunfire for fireworks before finding her daughter bleeding in the stroller. "My daughter was innocent. She didn't deserve that," she said.

The moped crashed two blocks from the scene, throwing both riders to the ground. The alleged shooter, 21-year-old Amuri Greene, was arrested at the crash site and later hospitalized in police custody for injuries he sustained in the collision. Greene was arraigned, held without bail, and has pleaded not guilty.

Police have not confirmed Rodriguez's specific role in the attack, whether he was the moped's driver, or the nature of his connection to Greene. His formal charges and custody status had not been announced as of the most recent reporting.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the killing "a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience" at a televised briefing, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani also publicly expressing outrage.

Investigators are working with witness accounts, physical evidence from the moped crash, hospital records for Greene, and digital evidence gathered by law enforcement. Prosecutors will need to establish each suspect's role in an attack that unfolded quickly and in full public view.

Rodriguez's arrest, carried out across state lines with federal assistance, reflects the speed and scale of the investigation that followed Kaori's death. As charges against him remain pending, the full legal accounting for what happened on that Brooklyn street corner is still taking shape.