Boy, 15, Arrested In 11-Year-Old's Bronx Shooting Death: NYPD

NEW YORK CITY — A 15-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed a young girl during a violent scooter chase in the Bronx, police said.

The boy — Matthew Godwin — was arrested early Friday and will be charged as an adult with the murder of Kyhara Tay, 11, police said.

Godwin rode the back of a scooter Monday driven by Omar Bojang, 18, a gang member who remains on the loose, police said. Together, the pair chased a 13-year-old boy in an apparent attempt to shoot him along a Bronx street in broad daylight, said James Essig, the NYPD's chief of detectives.

“This reckless and irresponsible behavior resulted in an unattended, innocent 11-year-old being struck in the stomach by a stray bullet,” he said.

Tay died hours after the shooting, authorities said.

The brazen shooting prompted a massive investigation by NYPD detectives, who released video footage showing the scooter chase.

The probe led authorities to Godwin and a tragic realization: all the people involved were either children, or barely out of childhood.

"The tragedy here is that we're talking about a gunman who is too young to be called a 'gunman' because he's 15 years old," said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. "A 15-year-old who possessed a gun, fired a gun on a busy street at 5 o'clock in the afternoon with no thought about his own human life or that of anybody else in the community."

Police found Godwin in a Pugsley Avenue hotel near the Cross Bronx Expressway about 1:30 a.m., Essig said.

Godwin was with his mother, he said.

NYPD officers had past contacts with Godwin, but no arrests, Essig said. He said one of those contacts involved a 2019 harassment case in which someone slapped Godwin across the face and asked if he was a member of 800 YGz, a notorious violent gang.

Bojang, who is a member of an 800 YGz subset, has a longer criminal history, Essig said. He faces an arrest warrant for a Bronx robbery pattern and is connected to two previous shootings, Essig said.

"We're asking for anyone with information for this shooting, or for the whereabouts of Mr. Bojang to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS," he said.

Mayor Eric Adams said the level of gun violence in New York City must be addressed at all levels.

“This is what we’re dealing with over and over,” he said. “Kids killing kids. Illegal guns as easy to buy as candy and comic books.”