New York Daily News

Hunt susp in park slay of Bronx grad

- BY ROCCO PARASCANDO­LA

The NYPD is zeroing in on a suspect in the senseless slaying of a 19-year-old woman mistakenly shot while celebratin­g her college graduation in a Bronx park, police said Tuesday.

Cops released surveillan­ce video of a suspect Tuesday and offered a $10,000 reward for informatio­n leading to an arrests in the June 12 slaying of Tyana Johnson in Wakefield’s Shoelace Park. A second suspect is also being sought.

A police source said Bloods gang members were in the park and that detectives are investigat­ing if the shooting was in retaliatio­n for another shooting in the area last year.

Johnson was struck a number of times, including in the head, after the killers climbed out of a light-colored BMW at about 11 p.m. and opened fire on the crowd of about 150 young people, surveillan­ce video shows. It was not clear if one or both men fired.

The men — who also wounded three others — got back in the car with others and drove off. A short time later, one of the suspects (inset) was captured on surveillan­ce video walking and running while looking over his shoulder.

Johnson was rushed to the hospital, but couldn’t be saved. Cops say she was shot by mistake.

It wasn’t clear if any of the wounded — a 24-year-old man shot in the groin, a 16-year-old boy struck in the ankle and a 15-year-old boy hit in the buttocks — were intended targets.

Johnson, a business major, had invited her friends to the park in advance of her Monroe College virtual graduation the following week. She earned her associate’s degree in the fall and was continuing on at the school to get her bachelor’s, her family said.

Johnson grew up in the Bronx near the park but moved to Connecticu­t a few years ago. She recently moved back to the borough while she finished her degree.

Anyone with informatio­n is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidenti­al.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States