Police have arrested a man they say fatally shot an elderly man when they shot at a vehicle in which he was a passenger in East Harlem, authorities said.
Identified as Herbert Bryd, 47, he was charged with murder and possession of weapons for being an accessory to shooter Tito Llanes in the murder of Sylvester “Big West” Topping on E. 115th St. near First Avenue in East Harlem on August 11. September 2021. Bryd was captured on Wednesday.
Topping, who was 57 years old at the time of his death, had gotten into a car near the corner when Bryd “pointed him out to his accomplice, who immediately fired a gun repeatedly into the driver’s-side rear window of the car as the car walked away,” says the complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Topping’s partner revealed that he was killed by a bullet that went through the window of the vehicle, according to the Daily News.
The man and his girlfriend were attending a friend’s birthday party when Topping was shot, the woman said. The victim was pronounced dead from the gunshot wound at the Metropolitan Hospital after the shooting at 1:30 in the morning.
“Many of us who were there did not know what happened, we did not know who was shooting, where the shots were coming from,” explained the fiancée.
“Everybody was getting up to leave the party and I don’t know if something was going on.”
Although Bryd pointed out the vehicle to Llanes, it was not immediately clear if the two planned to take the life of Topping or someone else inside it.
A Bronx resident, Topping was the father of three children, stepfather of two and grandfather of three children known by the nickname Big West.
“If you know Big West, then you know that he was the community chef offering a variety of foods like turkey wings [y] steak and fish sandwiches, just to name a few of their specialties,” his family wrote in an online obituary.
Llanes, 27, was arrested Wednesday for the 2021 slaying and charged with murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. He and Bryd were held without bail after their respective arraignments.
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