{"id":183970,"date":"2026-04-02T23:36:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183970\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:36:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:36:30","slug":"brooklyn-community-devastated-after-shooting-death-of-7-month-old-girl-she-was-just-starting-to-take-her-first-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/183970\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn community devastated after shooting death of 7-month-old girl: \u2018She was just starting to take her first steps\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gray, overcast skies matched the heartbroken mood in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Thursday morning \u2014 one day after a 7-month-old girl was shot dead with a stray bullet<\/a> in a horrific crime that shocked the city.<\/p>\n

Little Kaori Patterson-Moore had been pushed in her stroller by her mother on a warm, sunny afternoon near the corner of Humboldt and Moore Streets just after 1:20 p.m. on April 1 when the fatal bullet was fired by a suspect riding on a moped with another individual.<\/p>\n

The infant \u2014 who relatives said had just begun taking her first steps days earlier \u2014 was struck in the head. Desperate efforts to save her life were to no avail; she was pronounced dead a short time later at Woodhull Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The morning after the tragedy, local residents shook their heads and expressed despair as they left their homes for their morning errands. Meanwhile, charges were pending against one of two suspects involved in the shooting \u2014 and a manhunt for the other perpetrator continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police officers<\/a> were stationed at the corner of Humboldt and Moore Streets, keeping watch over the crime scene. About a block away, just outside of 140 Moore St., where Patterson-Moore\u2019s father resides, distraught residents placed hundreds of candles in honor of the child.<\/p>\n

Some of the candles were shaped with hearts and the little victim\u2019s initials; others were placed next to a pink stuffed bunny.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Grandparents of slain Brooklyn baby mourn<\/p>\n

\"grandmotherSpeaking from her apartment on Thursday afternoon, Linda Oyinkonyan, the grandmother on Kaori\u2019s mother\u2019s side, said she has been left devastated. \u201cHeartbroken, horrified. It\u2019s bad, it\u2019s sad, it\u2019s sorrowful, it\u2019s hurtful, it\u2019s nothing you can imagine, nothing, the hurt, the deep hurt,\u201d she said.Photo by Dean Moses \"womanThe morning after the tragedy, local residents shook their heads and expressed despair as they left their homes for their morning errands.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"Some of the candles were shaped with hearts and the little victim\u2019s initials; others were placed next to a pink stuffed bunny.\u00a0Photo by Dean Moses \"\"Kaori Patterson-Moore, just 7 months old, was shot dead in Brooklyn on April 1, 2026.Facebook<\/p>\n

The baby\u2019s grandmother, who declined to be identified, told amNewYork that Patterson-Moore was only just starting to take her first steps.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t define her. Everybody loves her. She was just starting to call me mom. She was just starting to take her first steps. She was close with all her family and nephews and uncles,\u201d the grandmother said.<\/p>\n

Speaking from her apartment on Thursday afternoon, Linda Oyinkonyan, the grandmother on Kaori\u2019s mother\u2019s side, said she has been left devastated.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHeartbroken, horrified. It\u2019s bad, it\u2019s sad, it\u2019s sorrowful, it\u2019s hurtful, it\u2019s nothing you can imagine, nothing, the hurt, the deep hurt,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Oyinkonyan shared that she is a pre-k teacher and was at work when her daughter called with the grave news.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said your granddaughter got shot in the head. The bullet went through her head,\u201d Oyinkonyan recalled while bursting into tears. \u201cI fell out on the floor. I blacked out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Oyinkonyan stated that her family has been torn apart, adding that her son-in-law was extremely close with the child.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son-in-law is devastated. He was attached to the baby, he would play his PlayStation games and have her in his carrier with her bonnet on while he was playing games. He loved her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Oyinkonyan\u2019s husband. God\u2019s King Oyinkonyan said the same bullet also injured Patterson-Moore\u2019s two-year-old brother.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bullet passed through her and grazed the back of her brother who was sitting on the stroller,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen things like this happen you begin to ask God questions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neighbors recall the agony<\/p>\n

Mia Torres, 19, told amNewYork that she had been a family friend of the father for several years and rushed to the scene after hearing the mother scream.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was screaming, but she wasn\u2019t with the baby. The baby had already left with the dad,\u201d Torres said. \u201cShe was screaming: \u2018My daughter got shot. My daughter got shot.\u2019 I was going to drive her to the hospital but the cops took her,\u201d Torres said. \u201cI\u2019ve been going crazy since last night, like I can\u2019t stop posting the baby on my social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torres spent the morning relighting the candles and added that she briefly spoke with the child\u2019s mother.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said she was trying to get some sleep, that she was gonna give me a call whenever she woke up,\u201d Torres said.\n<\/p>\n

According to Torres and other witnesses, both parents had the 7-month-old and their 2-year-old son with them at the time of the deadly shooting. Upon hearing the shots, the mother and father and baby sought refuge at a nearby bodega.<\/p>\n

\"candlesCandles line a makeshift memorial in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on April 2, 2026 for a 7-month old girl shot dead with a stray bullet a day earlier.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"Police officers were stationed at the corner of Humboldt and Moore Streets, keeping watch over the crime scene.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"An Easter lily and votive candles outside a bodega where the mother of Kaori Patterson-Moore sought refuge after the shots rang out on April 1, 2026.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

A worker at the Sem Sem Deli said no one realized Patterson-Moore had been shot until the mother and baby were in the store. The worker also stated that the 2-year-old boy was grazed, something Torres said she also witnessed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was crying. \u2018I want my mom. Where is my sister? I want my mom,’\u201d\u00a0 Torres recalled.\n<\/p>\n

The incident has also taken a heavy toll on those who did not know the family directly but say they are sick of such tragedies.\n<\/p>\n

Local Gregory Martinez said he heard the tragic shooting unfold that afternoon from his apartment window, recalling hearing about three shots being fired. He said he did not realize the gravity of the situation until he later left his home and saw a legion of police officers and the expanding crime scene. According to him, the neighborhood is no stranger to tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community has to get back together. We need to start making changes. This is not the first time. We had a shooting about a year and a half ago on that corner, where a young man shot a guy,\u201d Martinez told amNewYork. \u201cSo, it\u2019s sad. It\u2019s very sad that a seven-month-old child who hasn\u2019t lived yet lost their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another local resident, a 40-year-old woman whose name was withheld by amNewYork, said she was alerted to the shooting by her children\u2019s school nearby, which went on lockdown.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a text from after school saying there was a shooting, and that we should go to the schools and pick up our children. They put a major lockdown in place yesterday. So that\u2019s how I knew what happened,\u201d said the 40-year-old woman, who told amNewYork that she has lived in the area since 2018. \u201cI had two kids in school at that time, and I got the text to go get them from the after-school. I had to tell my kids, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, guys, we\u2019re not going outside today.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows that family. Everybody knows the family. Everybody knows the kids they play in front of the building. She just started life,\u201d she added.\n<\/p>\n

The community\u2019s sadness was reflected in the change in the weather, the 40-year-old woman told amNewYork.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I came back to the building, there was a dark cloud over the storm, a big, dark, heavy cloud with a little bit of rain right there. To me, I said, the little girl passed away? Because ever since she passed yesterday, it\u2019s been looking like this, the weather, the air,\u201d the woman said. \u201cEvery time I talk about her, the aura in this neighborhood right now is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gray, overcast skies matched the heartbroken mood in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Thursday morning \u2014 one day after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[74021,98,74022,74023,100,99,74024,74025,73902,74026,74027,74028,74029,73706,74030,9,24,790,63,74031,613,74032],"class_list":{"0":"post-183970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-baby-killed-new-york","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-community-mourning","11":"tag-brooklyn-gun-violence","12":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","13":"tag-brooklyn-news","14":"tag-candlelight-vigil-brooklyn","15":"tag-east-williamsburg-brooklyn","16":"tag-east-williamsburg-shooting","17":"tag-gun-violence-tragedy","18":"tag-humboldt-street-shooting","19":"tag-infant-shot-brooklyn","20":"tag-innocent-bystander-shooting","21":"tag-kaori-patterson-moore","22":"tag-moped-shooting-suspect","23":"tag-new-york","24":"tag-new-york-city","25":"tag-new-york-city-crime","26":"tag-nyc","27":"tag-nyc-gun-violence-2025","28":"tag-pm-newsletter","29":"tag-stray-bullet-victim"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}