 Good afternoon, as you know, we have an announcement to make in a tragic homicide case and a development today. You'll hear from Police Commissioner Kishan Tsu, followed by Mayor Eric Adams, followed by Chief of Detectives James Essig, followed by Bronx District Attorney Darcelle Clark. Also here we have Timothy McCormick, Chief of Bronx Detectives, as well as Ralph Sozio, the United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York, who is part of the US Marshals NYPD Future of Apprehension Task Force. Commissioner? Good afternoon everyone, thank you for being here. Following the swift work of your NYPD detectives, we're here to announce an arrest in the absolutely senseless killing of Kiara Tay earlier this week in the Bronx. Taken into custody before two o'clock this morning was 15-year-old Matthew Godwin. He has been charged with her murder. You've seen the video, Mr. Godwin is the subject who pulled the trigger while riding on the back of the moped. Instead of hitting his intended target, however, he ended the life of a totally innocent, completely uninvolved, 11-year-old girl. I won't say she was in the wrong place, because why shouldn't an 11-year-old child be able to stand outside in broad daylight? The teenagers who took Kiara's life, a sixth grader who, as her father said, didn't even have the chance to grow up, they shouldn't have been there. They have devastated a family while at the same time ending their own lives as they know them. Let me say this to Kiara's parents, Yehisha and Sofpini. The NYPD is far from finished. As I speak, your investigators are continuing to search for the criminal who was operating that moped. And I assure you, he too will be brought to justice. New Yorkers, the second suspect is 18-year-old Omar Bojang, also from the Bronx. I believe we have his picture here. As always, I urge anyone who might have any information about this horrendous crime or his whereabouts to please contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. We are talking about two teenagers who stole the life of an 11-year-old child in our city. There is absolutely no justification for this tragedy. And we will not stop until all of these violent criminals are off our streets. And shootings and murders are no longer the top stories. Mayor Adams. Thank you, Commissioner and the detectives and law enforcement who were involved in bringing the individual to justice. And I also want to thank DA Clark, who has been a real partner in our pursuit to deal with the violence. That we are experiencing in the Bronx. Look, listen to the numbers, 11, 15, 18, 11, 15, 18. Over and over again, we're seeing 11, 15, 18. Not only as the shooters, but the victims. Those numbers we hear over and over the pattern that we are observing. They have engulfed the violence in our city and we must put it to an end. And this is what we're dealing with over and over. Kids killing kids. Illegal guns as easy to buy as candy in comic books. They are everywhere. I've stated this before and I will say it again. I have never witnessed the willingness to carry the easy access and the willingness to use it the way we are seeing right now. Omar is still at large and we need the public to help us find him. His friends, his family, whoever knows where he is, he should turn himself in to justice. I want to thank the Crime Stoppers with a combined $10,000 in a reward that was put out to assist in bringing the shooter and that helped us but also the driver of the motorcycle or moped. There's no words that can express how we're feeling. It's beyond anger, it's beyond frustration, it's clear betrayal. We're doing everything we're supposed to do as the police department. The numbers are just horrendous. Removing 28288, 2887 guns off our street. 2887 guns off our streets since we took office. Those numbers are just alarming to think about but there's an endless flow. Police officers are realizing that as soon as they take them off, new guns are being produced and placed on our streets. The heroic actions of our law enforcement agencies and combined effects is just keep fighting against the easy flow of guns in our city and in our country. Just this week, ATF did a report that showed gun buying in this country has tripled since 2000 and it's spiked sharply in the last three years, tripled. 11.3 million guns were produced in 2020 alone. It's unfathomable when you think about the number and volume of guns. We're running out of baby formula in the city to keep children alive, but we're not running out of guns to take their lives. That is what our country has become and this young man is no stranger. Omar is not a stranger to law enforcement. He himself is a victim of gun violence. Shot twice, arrested for gun possession and wanted for robbery. Same pattern over and over again. The same body of people doing the same actions. Be part of the same revolving cycle of justice system that we're seeing. And this time, his actions took the life of young Kiara. It's a brutal cycle of neglect, of violence and victimhood. A revolving door that place our children in harm's way. Our children are dying and gun violence is the key cause of it. It's the number one killer of our children. Every year 18,000 children in teens are shot, killed or wounded. And approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence. This is not on TV, this is not on video games. This is in their neighborhoods, in their schools, on the street corners. This is the legacy that we're leaving our children. And still, we're being held hostage by a gun industry that's putting profit over public safety. And our kids are paying the price with their lives. D.A. Clark said it best, we're losing a generation, one bullet at a time. We love our freedom as we all state, but you can't be free if you can't go to school, if you can't go to church, if you can't sit in a restaurant, if your babies can't go to the park. When I went to the hospital that night and spoke with the parents, they stated we don't allow our child to go out. Let her go out this one time and she never came home. It's unimaginable when you think about it. Our children are having the entire childhoods taken from them. Can't go to the park, can't go to the store, can't attend events. You have to sit home because they don't feel safe enough to go out. We're betraying these youth, we're failing them, we're taking everything from them. We're leaving them nothing, not even their lives. Well, I'm going to stand, I'm going to stand for them. And I'm asking New York to join us as we stand for these children. It's time to end this senseless gun violence. We're going to continue to do our job, but we have to get these dangerous people off the street and keep them off the street. DA? Good afternoon, everybody. Jimmy Essig, Chief of Detectives. To my right is Chief Timmy McCormick, the investigative chief and Petro-Detective Bureau Bronx. To his right is Lieutenant Sherwin O'Toole, Bronx homicide detective. To his right is Lieutenant Chris Popovic, the 4-1 precinct detective squad supervisor. So on Monday, May 16th, at approximately 4.50 PM, a 13 year old male was being chased by two males on a scooter at Fox Street and East 165th Street in the Long Beach section of the Bronx. The male attempted to gain entry to 1015 Fox Street, which is an assisted living facility. He was unable to gain entry and began to run southbound towards Westchester Avenue. At which time, one of the males on the scooter, who was in a rear passenger, discharged a firearm at him in the despicable daylight shooting. This reckless and irresponsible behavior resulted in an unattended, innocent 11 year old being struck in the stomach by a stray bullet causing her demise. Detectives from the 4-1 precinct, Bronx homicide, gun violence, and the Intelligence Bureau collected and poured through numerous videos which were obtained and they were able to identify the individuals. At 1.30 AM this morning, members of the regional task force responded to a Hotel 95 located at 1275 Pugsley Avenue in the Bronx. There they apprehended, without incident, the male who we believe is the shooter. He was with his mother at the time. That person is Matthew Godwin, male 15 years old with a date of birth of 3, 13, 2007. He is arrested and charged with murder in the second degree, manslaughter in the first degree, and a criminal possession of the weapon in the second degree. He has no prior arrests, but his previous contacts with police include October of 2019 as a 12 year old. He's a victim of a harassment where someone smacks him in the face and states, are you a member of the 800 YGs, which is a notorious violent gang where rivals are the Sev side and the Third side. Last summer there was a series of violence acts perpetrated by these gangs which resulted in the murders of a 13 year old, a 16 year old, and a 19 year old. Godwin also was a victim of a shooting January 6, 2022 in front of 900 Bronx Park East. There were no arrests in that case. We are still actively looking for and seeking the public's help in apprehending the driver of that scooter. That wanted person is Omar Bojane, male 18 years old of 2115 Honeywell Avenue Apartment 4D. He is a money well gang member, which is a subset of those 800 YGs. His previous arrests include one gun arrest in June of 2020, which went to the youth court. He also has an arrest warrant for a Bronx robbery pattern where there were three incidents where he and another display a gun robbing individuals. All occurred in the housing and Webster Avenue in the Bronx and all his victims were lured there using social media. He is also known to us with two previous shootings. In April of 2020 in front of 921 East 180th Street, he and another male were shot in the leg. That other male was a 27 year old blood gang member. In November 2020 in front of 2260 Crotona Avenue, he was shot in the leg during exchange of gunfire between Bojane and rival gang members, Third Side. That's an open case right now in Family Court. This is still a very, very active case. I'd like to thank the U.S. Marshals for their help and apprehending today. Ralph Scosio, Darcelle Clark and her staff were great. And again, the detectives who did a great work in this tape, they're still a very active case and we're investigating. But we're asking for anyone with information for this shooting or for the whereabouts of Mr. Bojane to call Crime Stop is at 1-800-577-TIPS. With that, I'd like to turn it over to the Bronx District Attorney's Office. That's a good one. I don't know. They'll get it for you. I want you to be as tall as possible. Yeah, you got to be able to see me. I vertically challenged. That's not doing much, though. Good afternoon. You know, we feel so much anguish over the death of little Kayara Tay. A stray bullet that ended her life and destroyed her family. A bullet that was fired by a shooter at a target with no regard for anyone else who was on the street that day. A bullet that ripped through the hearts of all of us here in New York City. But today, today we have now taken the first step in getting justice for Kayara. We now have a suspect arrested who is awaiting arraignments right now on the charges of murder, manslaughter and weapons charges. We will continue to fight for Kayara. So at this moment, there's some relief for her family and our community, but only some relief because there's still another who is being sought for this terrible crime. But also, 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. 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. It's incomprehensible, but it's no longer incredible for what's happening to us in the Bronx. This year alone, we've had 25 children, 16 years or younger, arrested for possession of a gun. And we've had 24 17-year-olds arrested for gun possession. Kayara, unfortunately, was the second child in the Bronx, killed by gunshot this year, also fired by a teen. We've had 16 children, 16 children, 16 years or younger that have been shot. 11 of them were under 15, and 5 of them were under 14. We have to focus on gun violence all the time and every time. So I'm asking the community, please, if you know something, say something. Give up, Mr. Bojang. To Mr. Bojang, turn yourself in because we are going to continue to look for you. And I want to thank NYPD and the Marshals and all of our law enforcement partners because we are making sure that we can do all we can to get justice for Kayara and to make our community safe. Please, please help us. And the parent of Mr. Bojang or whoever's responsible for him, it's your responsibility as well. Turn him in because he's being sought after and he's in danger. He's in danger because of what he did to Kayara and to all the others. The community is not safe as long as he is out there and wanted. You have a responsibility for your own child or family member to bring them in safely. Let's get this done right. Please, enough is enough. We know who the intended target was. It was a 13-year-old who was being chased over there. Karen, do you know him? He's being charged in criminal court right now. He's being charged as an adult in criminal court right now. In South Jamaica? It's a real concern and we all need to be part of the solution. And as the DA stated, one of the best things that mother can do right now for her son is to bring him in. Turn him in. And we're saying to all of those good families that are in our city, which is the overwhelmingly number of people in this city, that we're going to do our job as a police department. We need to get to those who are getting in the way of preventing this flow of guns in our city. It's time for the federal government to have a real look at this. We just gave you the numbers three times the rate of guns of being produced and sold in our city. It is imperative that we all get involved in preventing these levels of violence that we're witnessing. Particularly, they're happening with young people. So there's a lot of concern, but we're not going to surrender the violence. I say this over and over again. We are going to turn this city around and we're going to make sure these children are not being exposed to this level of violence. Josh, ABC. I have one very granular question and I want to start a bigger question. That's still part of the investigation. You heard the history, the history of the gangs up there. As far as motivation, there's no justifiable cost to shoot out there in broad daylight, pull a gun and shoot. But that's part of the investigation with the motive. There's one thing I want to point to before the commissioner responds to that. This is what we're finding fascinating. The shooters are about nothing. All of these cases when you start digging into it, it's about an argument. It's about a dispute. It's about being disrespected on social media. It's about, you know, you walked on a block. That's not your territory. There's nothing when you look at these shooters, it's not rooted into anything. It's really just rooted into some of this is mental health issues, but it's not something as real crisis that's caused someone to be shot. Well, I think it goes to what we all keep saying we need neighborhoods and communities and families to step up. You have to turn these people in. We have a number of resources. The city has a number of resources for these youth, for these children to take another path, take that opportunity. But if you don't take that opportunity, we will never stop doing everything we can to stop you. No, they don't live there. They live over at 900 Bronx Park. They got that room the night before May 19th. We could summarize that, yes. Antoine. Scooters are a big problem in our city and also in the Bronx. And I know working with my counterpart on patrol borough Bronx, he's working very, very hard to enforce the laws as it relates to scooters. The method of transportation, cars and scooters with violence, it goes hand in hand in. And they're doing their part as a proactive measure to stop the violence by stopping the cars and whatever violations they can find will take them and seize them. Can I just add something to that? Just so you're aware, we have a number of enforcement efforts that we are putting in place before the summer months come because we know this is a problem between the ATVs and the scooters. So we're doing a significant amount of traffic enforcement and we're seizing those vehicles when we can. The gun has not been recovered as of yet. We're still looking for the gun as part of our ongoing investigation. The second part was at the hotel. If you visited the 13-year-old, does he explain at all what these tensions are? The 13-year-old did come in with his parent and he spoke with us. But we still haven't determined the cause of the shooting. And then lastly at the hotel, was there resistance earlier? We've heard that it was some resistance. He might have put up a fight, maybe tried to run away. So the U.S. Marshal described the regional fugitive task force arrest in this case? Good afternoon. The regional fugitive task force is comprised of United States Marshal deputies and NYPD detectives. Through their investigation, tracked the suspect to the hotel. They arrived to the hotel, figured out what room he was in, knocked on the door. They didn't answer the door. The door was breached. At that point the suspect was in the room with three other juveniles and the arrest was made. The other three were released. The mom was there as well? Correct. Were they close to leaving town or just hiding out? At this point I don't know. Greg and Klothi, can you just describe going back to the room and finding this guy in the hotel? Was this a crime stopper? Or did you guys track him there? And why isn't the mother being charged? Do you believe that they were running away from the office? Well, as far as the mother being charged, that's still part of her investigation. We know she was there. We know they don't live there. We know they rented that room the night before. The second part of that, the first part of that question. I'm sorry. First part was how did detectives get the idea that they were the first and the last? As I stated on Monday, this was going to be a slow and tedious process. We're both my homicide and 401 detective squad investigators, amongst other investigators. We tracked the perpetrator for approximately just over two miles where we were able to get very good facial images of him. And we were able to use police sources to identify him. Did you guys get to the hotel to use a crime stopper tip or how did you guys track him? No, they were tracked not to a crime stopper step. The U.S. Marshals were the MIT personnel who were able to track him to the hotel. Can you elaborate on how they were tracked? Not at this time. I'm not going to go into that. I'm going to take one or two more on this. Dan Rivoli. I heard you say you do not recover the gun. Do you know where the shooter obtained the gun and then specifics in that case? And then generally when guns are recovered, whether used in a crime or just recovered in legal possession, do you then see where they get this gun, roll it out and try to find who's selling or paying it off? Yeah, we don't have the gun as of yet, so we won't trace it. All our guns that have serial numbers, they are traced. And then they are followed back and up. We'll see in a place of origin who sold at time to crime. And then between our joint firearms task force or our firearms task force, they will develop a case and see if we can roll up who's trafficking those guns into New York. All right, this is our last question here. John Doyle, CDS. Do you have a comment on the number of shootings involving kids in the Bronx in the past year? Specifically, what are you doing in the Bronx to suppress the violence ahead of the solo run? We rolled out our summer 40 plan. There's a number of Bronx precincts that are part of that summer 40 plan. We have enhanced deployment in those areas. We have a dedicated inspector in the borough who is responsible for suppressing gun violence and being able to determine where we need to pivot our resources if something is not effective. We have supervisors that are in charge of those precincts as well and those details to ensure that we are doing everything we can and getting the information and intelligence we need to be effective. All right, thank you everyone. Thank you. I want to respond to that for one moment, which is important. The commissioner just stated what we have done traditionally, we've dropped the weight of this on the police department only. We're not doing that. They're rolling out their summer plan, but every agency that's involved with young people also must produce a plan to complement what the police department is doing. The Department of Education, summer youth employment, DYCD, we are not saying to the NYPD that this is your crisis only. By the time someone carries a gun, discharges a gun, we already fail as a city. And so what we're doing that's different is we're asking the police to be on the front line as they normally are, but I'm going to all of my agencies and say how are you part of complementing the Bronx plan? That's the goal here and that is what's different than what has been done previously. Everyone must be on board because we have to prevent as well as apprehend those crimes that are taking place in the city. Okay, you can just say right now. Break for 10 seconds. Same position, please. No, actually we were at the conference. They saw that I was there. They know that I'm into health, so they threw down their protein bar for me to be able to drink. I didn't get a chance to thank them. I had to get up to the Bronx, but I appreciate the commitment to my nutritional values. I'll ask the latter first. No, I have not carried a firearm and as I stated before, if I feel the need to do so, since I'm able to do so, I will. I don't feel the need to do so. I'm very fortunate that my brother is playing an active role in protecting me and so I am pleased with the security that I have and I feel confidence. Okay, thank you. All the cameras will get you if you're 10 miles over. A real win. You know, we started out the year in January. People felt as though we were not going to make any inroads in Albany, but I knew differently that we were behind the scenes talking with people. We didn't feel that we needed to have a public discussion, but behind the scenes people were aligned with our mission. Sometimes the loudest is not the majority. This is a huge win. We know speeding is a contributor to many of the fatalities and injuries. And we also know that at night, many of the speeders are taking place. And so this is a big win for us and we're really excited about getting that done. Well, thanks, Senator Garnadas, who played the crucial role in carrying the bill in the Senate. Yes, sir. Yes, yes. Because we have to be honest about what we're facing, because if we're not honest about what we're facing, then everyone is not going to be on board. So I am calling on the business communities. When I sit down with them, I say I need you to do paid internship programs. I need you to be part of the summer youth employment. I need to mentor in programs. I need to be to my faith-based leaders and tell them I need you to come out with me in the streets and be the eyes and ears. So if I'm not honest with New Yorkers of what we're up against, then I'm sending a false impression. I have to be honest. This is an FDR moment. You explain exactly what we're dealing with. And then you show the plans we are going to implement to address what we are dealing with. We're dealing with the gun crises. And we're not alone. I was with the Atlanta mayor. We had dinner. He was here in New York. And he told me that the governor just passed a piece of legislation that you no longer have to do any checks to buy a gun. Now people are going to be just carrying their guns openly. Chicago just implemented a curfew for young people. Detroit, St. Louis. This is engulfing big cities across America. And I'm saying to New Yorkers, this is what we're dealing with. Here are our plans. And I need all New Yorkers to be part of that plan so we can make our city the safe city that we know it could become.