As family members of 1-year-old Antiq Hennis attended his funeral, the man believed to be responsible for killing him was on his way back to New York City to face charges. Brynn Gingras reports.
The gunman suspected of shooting a 1-year-old Brooklyn boy in the head as he crossed a street in his stroller has been charged with second-degree murder after being arrested in northeastern Pennsylvania Friday, authorities said.
NYPD officers and authorities with the U.S. Marshal Regional Fugitive Task Force apprehended 23-year-old Daquan Breland, who is believed to be the shooter, Friday in Wilkes-Barre, according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Daquan Wright, 19, was also taken into custody. Police believe he gave the gun used in the shooting to Breland.
The men waived extradition at a hearing and were taken back to New York.
Breland was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said. He was remanded without bail at an arraignment Saturday.
Wright was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Antiq Hennis was shot in the head Sunday evening as his father pushed his stroller across Livonia Avenue in Brownsville. Authorities have said the shooting may have been gang-related, with his father as the intended target.
Police said four shots were fired, and one hit Antiq on the left side of his head. Two bullets were found in his stroller.
At a funeral for the boy at Grace Funeral Chapels in East New York Friday night, some mourners expressed outrage at Antiq's father, Anthony, who police said has been uncooperative in their investigation.
"Life cut short in an instant, for no reason, for his father's foolishness," said the boy's uncle, Percy Gravenhise.
"They're not men, they're little boys," mourner Yvette Telfair-Clay said. "Men don't shoot babies. May they rot in hell. It's not right."
Anthony Hennis walked into the open-casket funeral through a back door. Neither of Antiq's parents spoke at the service.
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"It's just sad. Why, why an innocent child?" said. Telfair-Clay. "Children should be able to live happy, normal lives, and it's really sad. It's a very sad thing when you have to bury a baby."
In a 2009 mugshot, Breland can be seen with a tattoo that reads "family comes 1st." He served time that year for a shooting in Auburn, N.Y.; the details of that case were not immediately clear.
Kelly said Friday afternoon that the gun used in the shooting had been located. He would not comment on a motive.
Brenland and Wright were arraigned as fugitives in Pennsylvania. Wright then waived extradition in Pennsylvania on a weapons charge and Breland on a parole violation, according to the Citizens' Voice newspaper in Wilkes-Barre.
