A teenager has been arrested upstate in connection with the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy who was gunned down in a Brooklyn park in September, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.
Wesley Walker, 16, who investigators believe was on the run for nearly five months, was taken into custody in Binghamton early Wednesday, The New York Post reported today.
Walker was charged with manslaughter in the September 8 afternoon murder of Unique Smith, who was first punched in the stomach by one of two masked bandits who “asked about her gang affiliation,” it was reported in that moment.
Smith, a Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools student, was sitting on a bench inside McLaughlin Park with two school-age girls around 1:40 p.m. when the suspects questioned him, authorities previously reported.
“Words were exchanged and a fistfight ensued,” Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a news conference in September. “The male, described as wearing all black and a black mask, pulled out a firearm firing once and striking our victim.”
The two suspects then fled the park on Tillary Street toward Adams, Essig said. “There were at least 30 other people in the park at the time,” he added.
The teen was rushed to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Smith’s grandfather, Kenneth Davis, was offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who turned in the boy’s killer.
Police mentioned that there was no indication that Smith was a gang member.
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