Susp in ma slay busted
Shot vic, 20, point-blank as she pushed stroller: cops
A man sought for gunning down a woman pushing their infant child in a stroller on the Upper East Side was arrested on Friday, police said.
Isaac Argro, 22, the father of the infant pushed in a stroller by slain mom Azsia Johnson, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon by police in the 19th Precinct. Word of the arrest was announced on Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell’s Twitter account.
“He’s a coward,” said Sandra Johnson, the victim’s aunt. “She didn’t do anything to him but let him see that baby, and he killed her in the street.”
“Her kid will never know her,” the heartbroken aunt said.
Azsia Johnson, 20, had texted a relative that she was planning to meet with Argro on Wednesday to talk things out, police said.
But instead of a meeting, a hooded gunman brazenly walked up to Johnson on Wednesday night and fired a single bullet into her head at point-blank range, said cops.
Argro was taken into custody in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on Friday and brought to the Upper East Side police precinct, said police sources.
Argro had been sought for a domestic violence assault against Johnson on Jan. 1 in which he “smacked her around,” said a police source.
Cops were called to the Brooklyn apartment they shared — but Argro was gone by the time officers arrived, the source said.
Cops with the NYPD’s domestic violence unit followed up, and a misdemeanor assault charge was filed against Argro.
Until Friday, the boyfriend never crossed paths with police. There were no prior domestic violence incidents between the two, police said.
The young mother — who had an older child with another man — met her tragic end just as the sun set around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. She had been pushing her 3-month-old in a stroller on E. 95th St. and Lexington Ave., just a few steps from the Samuel Seabury Playground, cops said.
The victim’s aunt said Argro stalked and threatened her niece with phone calls and text messages.
She said her niece went to meet Argro on Wednesday because he promised her he had two bags of clothes for their little girl.
When Argro didn’t show, the young mom left the park. “She got tired of waiting,” the aunt said.
A short time later, she was shot dead.
“I never met him. I just heard about him,” said the aunt.
“He was abusive to my niece. He was very abusive.”
The aunt said a family friend told her that Argro called her during an Upper East Side vigil held after the Wednesday murder. It is not clear if that call was shared with police, or if cops have tried to track the ex-boyfriend’s cell phone.
Officials said Johnson was staying at a shelter near the shooting and had lived in Staten Island and Brooklyn in the years leading up to her death.
“She was trying to do what she had to do,” the aunt said.
“She wanted to get out on her own, be independent.”
She said she wanted the killer caught so the family could get justice.
“She was a beautiful girl,” the aunt said. “She didn’t deserve that.”