BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two teenage boys were indicted Tuesday for the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy who was killed while riding his tricycle outside his Buffalo home last week. The boy’s 7-year-old sister was also wounded in the incident.
“Literally, babies killing babies,” said Mayor Byron Brown as city leaders announced charges against a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old at an evening news conference.
Three-year-old Ramone Carter and his sister Jamia Griffin were not the intended targets. The suspects fired toward another young person around 9:30 p.m. on June 21, according to acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane.
The children’s mother, Shakenya Griffin, told The Buffalo News she heard gunshots and ran outside to find her children.
“He ran right to me, and he was full of blood,” she said. “I collapsed in my neighbor’s grass and said, ‘Call 911.’”
Keane said each teenager fired an illegal gun, one a pistol and the other a revolver. Both were arraigned on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault, and weapons possession. They are being held without bail in a youth detention facility. The older boy will be sentenced as an adult if convicted.
The names of the teenagers were withheld due to their ages.
Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia praised witnesses for their cooperation, which led to the suspects’ arrests. He recalled how officers rushed Ramone to the hospital themselves in an attempt to save him.
“They got that poor baby in a police car and raced to (Erie County Medical Center) to try to give him a fighting chance,” Gramaglia said. “Unfortunately, we all know that wasn’t the outcome. The baby was declared dead at the hospital.”
Keane declined to comment on a possible motive when asked if the shootings were gang-related.
“It appeared they were targeting someone else,” Brown said. “But the fact that these children had guns and were so willing to use them indiscriminately is what brings us to this point today.”
