The father of an infant who was killed earlier this month when a stray bullet struck her was the target of the shooter, the police said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The infant, Kaori Patterson-Moore, was sitting in a stroller near her parents, outside a deli in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on April 1, when two men on a motorbike sped up to the corner of Humboldt and Moore Streets, according to the police.<\/p>\n
One of the men, who the police later identified as Amuri Greene, 21, fired shots into a crowd of adults and children, striking the baby and her 2-year-old brother, who was grazed in the back<\/a>. The men then sped off as the baby\u2019s father, Jamari Patterson, began screaming and picked up his lifeless child, according to witnesses. The two men have been arrested and charged with murder in the death of the 7-month-old girl. Both have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n Mr. Greene, who was caught that day<\/a>, later told the police that he had wanted to shoot Mr. Patterson, a gang rival who he said had shot at him the day before, said Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives for the New York Police Department.<\/p>\n Chief Kenny said the detectives had not recovered any evidence that Mr. Patterson tried to shoot Mr. Greene the day before his daughter was killed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no indication that it even took place,\u201d Chief Kenny said. <\/p>\n The two men, Mr. Greene and the driver of the motorbike, Mathew Rodriguez, 18, \u201cwent out with purpose\u201d to Williamsburg that day, Chief Kenny said. \u201cThey went out there to take a life.\u201d<\/p>\n Both men were arraigned earlier this month on several charges including murder. Mr. Rodriguez fled after the shooting to rural Pennsylvania where he was with family and was caught two days later by the police in Barrett Township<\/a>, two hours northwest of Williamsburg near the Pocono Mountains.<\/p>\n Just before his arraignment, as he was led to a police vehicle, Mr. Rodriguez wept and insisted he did not know Mr. Greene had planned to shoot at the crowd.<\/p>\n