The accused Harlem smoke shop shooter who allegedly gunned down two men within 27 hours this weekend was ordered held without bail Wednesday — as the store that he allegedly shot up continued to illegally peddle potent weed products.
Messiah Nantwi, a 21-year-old reputed gangbanger, was formally charged with two counts of second-degree murder at his Wednesday morning arraignment.
He was already out on bail for shooting at three NYPD cops two years ago, court records show. In light of that, Assistant District Attorney Danielle Turcotte asked at his arraignment that the court keep him behind bars.
“Based on the seriousness of the charges and the fact that the defendant committed these crimes while out on bail on another violent felony, remand is the least restrictive means to ensure the defendant’s return to court,” Turcotte wrote on the bail application.
Judge Melissa T. Lewis agreed, and sent Nantwi to Rikers Island.
He’s due back in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 14.
Authorities arrested Nantwi on Tuesday for allegedly shooting two men over the weekend: Brandon Brunson, a 36-year-old Brooklynite, and Jaylen Duncan, a 19-year-old alleged member of a rival gang.
Messiah Nantwi, 21, at his Wednesday arraignment for allegedly killing two men in 27 hours this weekend. Curtis Means/PoolBoth killings appear to be bone-chilling, execution-style hits that police say were caught on camera.
On Sunday evening, Nantwi appeared to have words with Brunson inside a Harlem smoke shop, according to police and surveillance video obtained by The Post.
As Brunson turned to leave, Nantwi allegedly shot him in the back of the head. Brunson collapsed, but was still alive when Nantwi walked over, aimed again at the man’s head and fired another round, Turcotte wrote in the bail application.
Nantwi allegedly shot a 36-year-old Brooklyn man at a Harlem smoke shop after the two strangers had words. DCPIThen he calmly walked out the door.
But that wasn’t Nantwi’s first killing — cops said he fatally shot Duncan the day before on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 132nd Street.
The Saturday afternoon shooting was done with the same weapon, which police said they found in Harlem around the time they arrested Nantwi.
Police say Nantwi also gunned down Jaylen Duncan, a rival gang member, on Saturday afternoon. G.N.Miller/NYPostCops say he did Duncan the same way: Nantwi shot him at very close range, then stood over him and pumped more rounds into him as he lay defenseless on the street, Turcotte said in court papers.
Police said they have surveillance video of that shooting, too. And it “clearly shows [Nantwi’s] face,” Turcotte wrote.
Nantwi was also arrested in 2021 for allegedly shooting at three Bronx police officers who were trying to arrest him for spray-painting graffiti. The young man fought back, then fired a .22-caliber handgun at the cops.
Nantwi was also arrested for allegedly shooting at cops in 2021. He was out on bail.
The unhurt officers returned a hail of bullets, firing 31 times and seriously wounding the trigger-happy teenager.
He was charged with three counts of attempted murder on a police officer, but a judge eventually knocked his bail down to $300,000 — which let his family pull together the $30,000 necessary to free him.
At a Wednesday press conference, Mayor Eric Adams called Nantwi “a poster child of extreme recidivism.”
“There’s a lot of extreme recidivism that goes unnoticed, because a lot of cases are dismissed,” Adams said. “So they don’t go as part of the stats … we just really need to look at [that].”
Meanwhile, the Harlem smoke shop that Nantwi allegedly shot up was back to selling weed products on Wednesday — even though the brazen Lenox Avenue business doesn’t have a license to do so.
“We have edibles right now,” said the worker who was selling through a window. “We have gummies and punch bars.”
When asked to comment about the renewed weed sales at the smoke shop, a City Hall spokesman said in a statement “the city’s multiagency task force remains committed to using every tool at its disposal to combat the proliferation of unlicensed and unregulated smoke shops.
“The tragic incidents of violence we have witnessed in our communities are completely unacceptable, and only underscores the need for local law enforcement to have more power to actively shut down such illicit businesses for good,” the spokesman said.
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods






