According to police sources, 18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez was extradited back to the Big Apple after fleeing to Monroe County, PA, immediately following the April 1 shooting. He was arrested on April 3 after tracking him down to his hideaway.

Rodriguez is accused of driving the scooter with reported accomplice Amuri Greene, who allegedly fired the fatal shot from the back of the vehicle. The shooting, which Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch indicated was possibly gang-related, left little Patterson-Moore dead after being struck in the head while riding in a stroller that her mother pushed. 

18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez was extradited back to the Big Apple after fleeing to Monroe County, Pa immediately following the April 1 shooting. He was arrested on April 3 after tracking him down to his hideaway.Photo by Dean Moses

Rodriguez had been held at Brooklyn’s 90th Precinct following his extradition from Pennsylvania. Detectives escorted him in handcuffs out of the 90th Precinct’s Williamsburg stationhouse, headed for Brooklyn Criminal Court for arraignment — and was confronted by a number of reporters and photographers.

amNewYork asked Rodriguez what he had to say to the mourning family of the slain infant.

“I didn’t do it. I don’t know it was going to happen!” He exasperatedly told amNewYork.

When informed that the young victim was just 7-months-old, he broke down while being loaded into a waiting police vehicle.

“It’s not my fault, I don’t pull the trigger. I promise I didn’t know. I promise, I promise, I didn’t know. I didn’t know he was going to do it. I didn’t know he was going to pull the trigger,” he said over and over again. “I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez was extradited back to the Big Apple after fleeing to Monroe County, Pa immediately following the April 1 shooting. He was arrested on April 3 after tracking him down to his hideaway.Photo by Dean Moses

The perp walk occurred the same day the family held a funeral procession for Patterson-Moore around the community where she lived. Her tiny pink casket was driven around in a horse-drawn carriage.

According to loved ones, she had only just begun saying her first words and taking her first steps days before she was killed.

“This doesn’t define her. Everybody loves her. She was just starting to say mom. She was just taking her first steps. She was close with all her family and nephews and uncles,” one of Patterson-Moore’s grandmothers said.

Both Rodriguez and Greene collided with a vehicle as they tried to make their getaway. While Rodriguez fled out of state, Greene ended up in the hospital.

Rodriguez is charged with counts of murder, attempted murder, seven counts of criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of assault, eight counts of hindering prosecution, and four counts of tampering with a witness.

18-year-old Matthew Rodriguez was extradited back to the Big Apple after fleeing to Monroe County, Pa immediately following the April 1 shooting. He was arrested on April 3 after tracking him down to his hideaway.Photo by Dean Moses