Jamaican gang member sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatal shooting of 14-year-old under false identity: DA – QNS.com

Jamaican gang member Sean Brown was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday for shooting 14-year-old Aamir Griffin on a basketball court in South Jamaica in a mistaken identity shooting at the Baisley Park Houses in 2019.

Brown, 21, of 153rd Street, pleaded guilty last month in Queens Supreme Court to manslaughter, conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon.

According to the charges, on the night of October 26, 2019, around 8:00 p.m., Griffin was playing basketball on the Baisley Park Houses playground. From nearby Foch Boulevard, alleged Money World player member Brown mistook him for a rival gang member and fired three shots from a .380-caliber handgun. A bullet passed through Griffin's upper chest and pierced both lungs. Griffin was taken to Jamaica Hospital by emergency medical services and died a short time later.

Brown was one of 33 alleged gang members who was indicted in March 2023 in what was described as the largest gang raid in the history of the Queens District Attorney's Office, a sweeping 151-count indictment accusing the defendants each of conspiracy, murder and other crimes.

At the time of the fatal shooting, Money World was in the midst of a “blood feud” with rival gangs Local Trap Stars and Never Forget Loyalty, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who added that the gang war was sparked by a knife attack in April 2019 .Tensions and violence between the warring factions escalated with Griffin's assassination. After the teenager was shot, there were more than 22 shootings between the rival gangs, one of them fatal.

Investigators tracked down Brown two years after the fatal shooting in Los Angeles and he was extradited to the county to face trial.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder rejected an attempted plea deal and sentenced Brown to 25 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, five to 15 years in prison for conspiracy, which he will serve concurrently, and an unrelated weapons charge for another five years. His 30-year sentence will be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

“Aamir Griffin’s killer has been brought to justice, but we know the grief for his loved ones continues,” Katz said. “No child should feel unsafe going to a park and no parent should ever have to bury a child.”

Griffin was a student at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside and a member of the freshman basketball program. More than a thousand people attended his funeral at Allen AME Cathedral in St. Albans.

After the verdict, Aamir's mother Shanequa Griffin told reporters: “It doesn't change the fact that my son is no longer here. Just a little closure.”

If the DA announced the prosecution As she fought Brown in September 2021, she was surrounded by police officers, elected officials and community leaders from Southeast Queens on the basketball court where Griffin was murdered. Following Brown's sentencing Wednesday morning, Katz said her office would continue to do everything in its power to remove illegal guns from the streets.

“Gang violence involving guns has caused too much harm in our communities,” Katz said. “We will continue to do everything in our power to remove illegal weapons from our streets to prevent another family from suffering such a tragedy.”