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Father Of Alleged Brownsville Shooter Insists Son Is "No Monster"
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 27, 2011
Modified Oct 27, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 27, 2011
Modified Oct 27, 2011
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Two teenage brothers and their 22-year-old half-brother have been arraigned in connection with the murder of Zuranna Horton, the mother of 13 who was fatally shot while picking up her kids from an elementary school in Brownsville, Brooklyn last Friday afternoon. 18-year-old Andrew Lopez has reportedly confessed to opening fire from a rooftop near the school, and police say his older brother, Jonathan Carrasquillo, instructed Andrew to get a gun, go to the roof, and "do what you have to do." Two other people were wounded, including Cheanne McKnight, an 11-year-old girl who was grazed in the face with one of Lopez's bullets.
Assistant Brooklyn District Attorney Terry Sand said yesterday the brothers are members of a gang that calls itself "8 block." It is alleged that Lopez, Carrasquillo, and Lopez's younger brother Kristian, 17, were near P.S. 298 on Friday when they spotted members of a rival gang. Sources told the Daily News that Lopez's target was McKnight, and that the shooting was sparked by an argument over a cell phone. But police tell the Times that McKnight was not connected with the rival gang, the "Young Goons" from the nearby Howard Houses.
"There is a rivalry between the young men who live in the Howard Houses and these guys who live at 1800 Pitkin,” NYPD spokesman Paul J. Browne told the Times, which reports that "no one in the rival group was believed to have been shot." Kristian was arrested for criminal possession of a weapon: a baseball bat. John Carrasquillo and Andrew Lopez, who just got out of rehab and was previously arrested while walking along Pitkin Avenue carrying a loaded rifle, were both charged with second-degree murder.
Outside court yesterday, Paul Lopez, 45, the father of the boys, told the Wall Street Journal, "I am sorry for what happened. We're devastated. We don't know what's going on. We want to see what happened. [Andrew] is no monster." Meanwhile, O’Neil Vaughan, 42, who now has custody of five children he fathered with Horton, tells the Times, "I’m glad they caught someone, that makes me feel happy,” Mr. Vaughan said. “But really, it doesn’t help that much. We’re all devastated here. I lost somebody I care about, and my kids lost their mother."
Tagged
andrew lopez
brownsville
gang violence
shooting
zuranna horton
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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