"Prosecutors said the September 2022 shooting began with an argument between Walker - identified as a member of the FNO Woo street gang - another masked individual, and Smith, whom Walker believed was affiliated with a rival gang. Smith had been sitting on a bench in McLaughlin Park near Tillary Street and Jay Street around 1:40 p.m. The 15-year-old, a student at nearby Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School, was approached by Walker, and the two exchanged brief words before Walker shot Smith once in the stomach, prosecutors said. The teen was rushed to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, officials said."
"Trial testimony revealed that earlier that day, Walker had cut class, returned to school at dismissal, and recruited several students - including one to act as a lookout - to go to the park, where he displayed a gun and expressed his intent to use it. Following the shooting, Walker fled the scene and remained on the run until his arrest in Binghamton, New York, on Feb. 1, 2023, police said."
"Working with the NYPD, we've brought gun violence in Brooklyn down to record lows, but one shooting is still one too many, and we will not rest until no family has to grieve a loved one lost to gunfire,"
Wesley Walker, 19, was found guilty of murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon for the September 2022 shooting that killed 15-year-old Unique Smith in a Brooklyn playground. Walker, identified as a member of the FNO Woo street gang, approached Smith at McLaughlin Park, exchanged words, and shot him once in the stomach. Smith, a student at Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School, was taken to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and pronounced dead. Trial testimony said Walker recruited students, displayed a gun, and expressed intent to use it. Walker fled and was arrested in Binghamton on Feb. 1, 2023.
Read at Brooklyn, NY Patch
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