A suspect in Wednesday's point-blank execution of a 20-year-old mother as she pushed her 3-month-old child in a stroller on Manhattan's Upper East Side has been arrested on charges of murder, police announced Friday.
Investigators had been zeroing in on Isaac Argro, 22, in the two day's since the sidewalk slaying of Azsia Johnson. Law enforcement sources identify Argro as the father of the 3-month-old inside the stroller, who was unharmed.
The NYPD confirmed his arrest late Friday, almost 48 hours after a gunman wearing all black shot the new mother near Lexington Avenue and East 95th Street. Escorted into Central Booking, Argro shouted "innocent" as he was walked by investigators inside.
Police had said the gunman approached Johnson from behind around 8:30 p.m., and shot her once in the head before taking off on foot.
Multiple law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the case say investigators recovered surveillance video and other footage from in and around the crime scene -- and they continue to canvass for evidence that may track the gunman's movements.
The sources say already recovered video shows the gunman pacing in front of a residence right before the shooting, which they say isn't thought to be random. They also have surveillance footage showing the woman with the stroller at one point.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Cameras that would have faced the exact incident spot were not immediately accessible, the senior NYPD officials said.
Whoever shot the woman, according to the NYPD, fired a single shot at her head before running off. The shooter was last seen running eastbound on East 95th Street, the NYPD said. One shell casing was recovered at the scene.
Mayor Eric Adams, who had spent Wednesday discussing gun violence, condemned the Upper East Side killing as he stood alongside NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell for an initial news briefing on the case late that night.
"This entire day we have been addressing the problem of overproliferation of guns on our street, how readily accessible they are and how there is just no fear in using these guns on innocent New Yorkers," Adams said Wednesday. "This is the result of that."
