This week, a gang member learned his fate for shooting and murdering a 14-year-old child who he mistook for a rival during a gang conflict while the youngster was playing basketball on a New York playground.
Sean Brown, 21, was sentenced to thirty years in prison for the death of Aamir Griffin. According to a news release, Brown pleaded guilty to first-degree homicide, second-degree conspiracy, and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon. The manslaughter and weapon terms will be served consecutively, with 30 years followed by five years of post-release supervision, according to officials.
“They took my soul away from me,” Aamir’s mother, Shanequa Griffin, told New York’s CBS station WCBS, prior to the sentencing. “I have not slept for five years. I am exhausted. I simply want to get this over with. My family and I miss him. At the very least, you are still here for your family, and maybe, if you ever find yourself on the streets again, you will make better choices.”
Kim Walston adored her grandson.
“Amir used to visit me every day, as I live just around the corner from him,” she told Spectrum News NY1. “On that fateful day Amir was taken away from us, [it was] the one day he didn’t come to visit me.”
“Amir touched the lives of so many, giving himself without hesitation,” she said, according to the site. “He was also a talented basketball player with aspirations of making it to the NBA. However, Mr. Brown’s decision to shoot that fatal shot ruined all of those hopes.
According to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, no child should feel unsafe when visiting a park, and no parent should ever have to bury a child.
“Gang gun violence has caused too much harm in our communities,” she went on to say. “We will continue to do everything in our power to get illegal guns off our streets in order to prevent another family from suffering such a tragedy.”
Brown fired three shots at Aamir with a.380-caliber handgun while he was playing basketball in the Baisley Park Houses on October 26, 2019, around 8 p.m. A gunshot entered his chest and punctured his lungs.
Brown was one of 33 gangsters charged in March 2023 in a 151-count indictment for conspiracy, murder, and other crimes committed amid a gang battle driven by social media and rap videos. Prosecutors stated that gangs on both sides brag about the violence, harass rivals, and dishonor dead family and friends.
According to prosecutors, the gang battle began in April 2019 after two Money World gang members assaulted and kicked a rival Trap Stars gang member before slashing him across the nape of the neck, resulting in serious scarring and deformity.
It culminated in Aamir’s murder. Tensions flared, with more than 22 shootings between the gangs, one of which was fatal.
According to Law&Crime, the indictment came after a nearly three-year investigation into gun and gang violence in and around the Baisley Park Houses, culminating in one of the area’s major gang takedowns.
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