Wounded gunman charged with attempted murder in stray bullet shooting of Harlem grandmother
A young shooter wounded in a gunfight that killed an innocent Harlem community leader stepping out of her building to check on her grandson has been charged with attempted murder, cops said Thursday.
Darious Smith, 23, is also facing gun possession charges for the Tuesday night shooting outside Tamara's Beauty Bar, a salon on Lenox Ave. near W. 113th St.
Smith was arguing with a man about 10:20 p.m. when he allegedly whipped out a gun and opened fire at his rival but hit no one. His rival pulled out a gun and fired back, hitting Smith in the foot and striking Excenia Mette, 61, in the head with a stray bullet, cops said.
Mette, a longtime member of the National Action Network and former owner of Momma Zee's Food to Plez on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd,, which she said was the first woman and Black-owned bodega in New York City since 1987, was checking on her grandson when she was caught in the crossfire.
'She was intending to see where her grandson was as the rounds started to let go on the street,' NYPD Capt. James Whitlock, commanding officer of the 28th Precinct, said Wednesday at the scene of the shooting. Mette died after being rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside, cops said.
The wounded Smith hobbled off but was arrested about a block away. His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Thursday.
Smith was already about to go to trial on robbery and assault charges for allegedly stabbing two people during an e-bike battery theft.
About 10:25 p.m. last June 12, Smith allegedly stole the battery from someone he cut in the lower back with a box cutter just four blocks up Lenox Ave. from Tuesday's gunfight. He also sliced a witness in the thumb, according to prosecutors.
He was arrested that day and later released on $10,000 bail.
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