Two Men Arrested in Shooting of Seven-Month-Old Baby in Williamsburg

Both men suspected in the drive-by shooting that killed seven-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore in East Williamsburg are now in custody, with the second arrested in Pennsylvania nearly 48 hours after the infant was fatally struck while sitting in her stroller.

Kaori was in her stroller near the corner of Humboldt and Moore Streets when, at approximately 1:20 p.m. on April 1, two men on a moped rode toward the intersection. The passenger, identified as Amuri Greene, 21, opened fire, striking the infant in the head and grazing her two-year-old brother, who was seated beside her in the same stroller. Her parents rushed both children to Woodhull Hospital, where Kaori was pronounced dead. Her brother is expected to recover.

Greene was taken into custody that afternoon after the moped crashed into an oncoming vehicle blocks from the scene. He was arraigned Friday night on multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, and weapons charges, pleaded not guilty, and was remanded without bail. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said Greene is a known associate of a street gang operating out of the Bushwick Houses, a public housing project nearby. Video recovered by investigators showed the moped leaving 24 Humboldt Street, at the Bushwick Houses, just minutes before the shooting.

The second suspect, Matthew Rodriguez, 18, believed to have been driving the moped, fled the state. NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked him to Pennsylvania and took him into custody on Friday. Charges against Rodriguez were pending as of Saturday.

At arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Jordan Rossman told the court that Kaori's father, not the infant, was the intended target of the shooting. The baby and her brother were caught in the crossfire.

The killing drew immediate response from city officials and clergy. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch both held press conferences in the hours after the shooting. On Thursday, Reverend Kevin McCall led a march through the Bushwick Houses alongside neighborhood clergy and announced a $5,000 reward for information; that information was ultimately rendered moot by Rodriguez's arrest the following day.

Kaori Patterson-Moore had been alive for seven months.