Community leaders from a Brooklyn neighborhood where a 1-year-old boy was gunned down in his stroller said they have identified the shooter, and are working with cops to bring him in.
“We know exactly who the shooter is,” said Tony Herbert, a neighborhood activist. “It was a beef between the shooter’s brother and the baby’s father.”
Sources said Antiq Hennis’s dad, Anthony Hennis, who has an extensive arrest record, was the intended target, but the grieving father shed no immediate light on the tragic shooting.
“I’m not alright,” he told a friend near his Brownsville home. “I can’t believe this.”
The senseless shooting death of little Antiq shattered the Brownsville neighborhood, which has been reeling under the weight of constant gun violence.
Shirley Jones-Baisley, Vice President of Marcus Garvey Village where the tot lived, said she was heartbroken over Antiq’s dead.
“I stand here again, but this time it’s closer,” she said through tears. “I know the family, I’ve know the mother since she was 1.
“I was at the hospital with them last night. This is not easy. I was in the room with her when she got the news. I’m out here all the time, begging you to do something different. We have babies that we have to raise and they die here early because we are not taking time out to understand what life has to offer us. I’m begging you, this is hard. I feel defeated right now.”
The baby’s mother, Cherise Miller, stepped out of her home to thank supporters but said nothing more.
Cops are issued a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the boy’s killer.
Mayor Bloomberg lashed out again at Washington for weak gun control laws.
“Every child in our city is precious, and every child deserves our protection,” Mayor Bloomberg said before Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade. “When a child dies, we all suffer, and we all grieve. Today, we are all grieving.”
Antiq’s death renewed the debate over the city’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy.
“A misguided ruling from a federal judge and two bills passed by the city council will make it harder for the NYPD to continue to reduce shootings and violent crimes, which primarily occur in minority communities, as we saw once again last night,” Bloomberg said
“I believe in stop and frisk 100 percent,” said Lisa Wilson, 70, who was on the 73 precinct community board for 10 years. Some of these kids have five or six guns in the house and their parents don’t know. I’m a mother and I’ve never had my kid go to jail. Without stop and frisk I know it’s going to get worse.”
But Angela James, 51, an accountant who has lived in Brownsville for 15 years, said she has mixed feelings about stop and frisk.
“ I mean look what happened to that baby,” James said.. “It’s ridiculous. But not every black person is a criminal. Some of us are professionals and we live in the neighborhood. I think they need to use a little more discretion when they stop people”