One week after a 69-year-old grandmother was shot and killed while walking to her East Harlem home after grabbing lunch, a suspect was arrested and faces federal charges.
The NYPD said Faisil McCants was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of murder, just over a week after the Aug. 27 killing of Robin Wright, who was shot near 110th Street and Madison Avenue in East Harlem.
Friends of Wright said she lived across the street from where she was killed. She was walking home after picking up lunch from one of her favorite Chinese restaurants when she was shot in the face, police said.
“It wasn’t right. One minute she’s walking, I’m waiting, and the next minute, she’s dead,” said Sonya Hampton, who knew Wright. “I saw her on the ground and ain’t nothing you can do but to hold her hand and tell her that you love her.”
Witnesses said they heard at least a dozen shots, but they do not believe Wright was the intended target.
Images from the scene showed a solitary walker, which Wright needed to get around, along with blood on a corner that was taped off with police vehicles nearby. More than a dozen shell casings were picked up at the scene, sources said.
McCants faces multiple charges in addition to murder, including robbery, weapon possession and gun possession, according to police. Federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York alleged the 18-year-old fired 15 shots from a machine gun after trying to rob a drug dealer.
According to the criminal complaint, McCants and two others went up to the drug dealer and soon they all started fighting. McCants and one of the others he was with grabbed backpacks full of marijuana from the dealer then took off, running up Madison Avenue.
As he ran off, McCants allegedly took out the machine gun from his sweatshirt pocket and opened fire, striking Wright.
“As alleged, after robbing a drug dealer at gunpoint, Faisil McCants fired a machine gun in the middle of the day on the busy streets of New York City, killing another person,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.
If convicted, McCants could face life in prison.
Police were still looking for the other two men believed to be involved in the robbery and deadly shooting.
An investigation is ongoing.
NBC New York Staff
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