Susp in ’19 kid slay back in Qns.
A long-sought suspect in the 2019 stray-bullet killing of a Queens high school hoopster stayed silent Saturday after his extradition from Los Angeles to face a murder rap in the heartbreaking shooting.
Sean Brown, 18, ignored questions from reporters as he exited the 113th Precinct stationhouse in South Jamaica just 2½ hours after arriving in his home borough to face charges, after a 22-month manhunt, in the killing of 14-year-old Aamir Griffin.
The young basketball player was shooting hoops on a court behind the Baisley Park Houses in South Jamaica when he was accidentally gunned down in a local gang feud.
Brown, who waived extradition at a brief Aug. 27 court appearance in Los Angeles, wore a black hoodie, black jeans, yellow sneakers and a blue face mask when escorted out by police. NYPD officials were given 30 days to grab the Queens teen from the custody of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department after he was picked up in California.
Aamir appeared poised for success on the court when struck by a bullet fired more than 100 yards away, with the fatal shooting linked to the violent neighborhood dispute that earlier left a 16-year-old girl with a gunshot wound as she walked home from school.
The victim’s mother told the Daily News last week that police told her the suspect was tracked down via social media, and wondered if his decision to waive extradition came from a guilty conscience. “Maybe it was eating him up inside,” said Aamir’s mom, Shanequa Griffin, 39. “Maybe it was starting to get to him. Maybe it started to both his heart.”
The suspect dodged law enforcement for nearly two years after the shooting of the aspiring basketball player, whose funeral drew more than 1,000 mourners to the Greater Allen Cathedral. Aamir was an up-and-coming player at Cardozo High School.
“I want people to remember how great my son was,” said Griffin after learning of the arrest.
“Everyone loved him. He was an amazing kid.”
Brown voluntarily signed the court papers clearing the way for his return. He offered a series of one-word answers to questions.
The slaying of the innocent
victim produced a citywide outpouring of grief, with the Knicks posing for a photo with a team jersey featuring his high school number 2. The father of the girl wounded in the earlier shooting attended his funeral, and Aamir’s
legendary high school coach Ron Naclerio, praised the young baller in his eulogy. “What do you do when there’s nothing you can do?” Naclerio asked. “I don’t have the words to heal this broken family. I wish I did.”