A 15-year-old boy was arrested Thursday for allegedly shooting three other teens during a fight in Times Square last week, the NYPD said.
The baby-faced suspect, whose name wasn’t released because he is a minor, has been charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon for the July 17 shooting, police said.
Cops believe the young triggerman — whose photo the department released last week — squeezed off eight rounds from a 9mm handgun in the Crossroads of the World last Monday at about 11:50 p.m.
The bullets struck three other kids, ages 15, 16 and 17. The younger pair were hit in the legs, while the 17-year-old was struck in the arm. All three went to the hospital in stable condition.
The gunman opened fire after he and four others — who had gotten off the subway near West 40th Street and Seventh Avenue — ran into a crew of about 25 Citi Bike-riding teens and the two groups began beefing, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters last week.
Cops have arrested the 15-year-old boy, pictured here, who’s suspected of shooting three other teens in Times Square last week. DCPI
The alleged shooter squeezed off several rounds during a confrontation with a crew of kids riding Citi Bikes Robert MeceaHe took off for the Times Square subway station after the shooting, cops said.
The NYPD released a surveillance photo of the boy, a lanky kid wearing a white tank top and black shorts with his hair tied in a bun, the following day.
The shooting was the capstone to a violent day for teens in the Big Apple.
The shooting happened just before midnight on July 17, which was a particularly bloody days for teens in the Big Apple. Aristide Economopoulos
The brazen shooting shocked onlookers. Aristide EconomopoulosOver a 12-hour span, a 15-year-old innocent bystander, Faridun Mavlonov, was fatally shot in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and a 16-year-old boy was wounded by a gunman on a Citi Bike just outside Crotona Park in the Bronx.
Earlier this week, cops named Leopoldo Nash, age 17, as the suspected shooter who murdered Mavlonov, a high schooler who dreamt of being crowned a UFC champ someday.
Nash, of Gravesend, allegedly shot Mavlonov in the back as he aimed at someone else on 62nd Street near 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst around 1 p.m. last Monday, police said.
Cops have charged the boy with attempted murder, assault and a weapons charge. Aristide EconomopoulosMavlonov – who was walking with a group of other kids when he was clipped in broad daylight – was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center. But he died the next day.
At his funeral, Mayor Eric Adams told a packed mosque that Mavlonov was a “young baby who was prematurely taken from us.” And he decried the guns and violence that have swamped the five boroughs’ streets.
“In the shadows of our city right now, there are young people who are harboring the anger and the violence,” he said.
“It is our obligation to take this painful moment and turn it into a purposeful moment – and to rededicate our lives to saving the children of our city.”
