It is a regular challenge faced by homicide detectives in New York city’s most violent precincts: getting witnesses and even victims to give useful information about shooting suspects.
Never was that more starkly clear than Monday, as police in Brooklyn tried to figure out who shot and killed a 1-year-old boy, Antiq Hennis, in his pram the night before.
The police said Antiq's father, Anthony Hennis, who was pushing the stroller, was most likely the intended target of the bullets and that they believed he may know who fired them. But if that is so, Mr Hennis is so far not helping to catch the killer of his son.
“He’s not answered questions,” the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said.
Mr Hennis, a 22-year-old with a history of drug arrests, including for selling heroin, would not answer questions from a reporter Monday.
A rail-thin man whose angular shoulders protruded from a white undershirt, he stood amid friends on the porch of his home near the shooting scene.
“My son is gone,” he said softly to himself. “There’s pictures of him everywhere, but my son is gone.”
News of Antiq’s death shuddered through the Brownsville neighborhood, where despite a decrease in shootings this year, local gang disputes still lead to gunfire.
It drew head-shaking condemnation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and candidates seeking to replace him as they gathered for the West Indian American Day Parade nearby. “Another child dead senselessly,” Mr Bloomberg told reporters before the parade’s start.
On Monday afternoon, black-and-white photos of Antiq (pronounced an-Teek) plastered a few brick walls.
Women sat hunched in chairs on front stoops around the neighborhood, faces between their hands. Inside the home of the boy’s mother, Cherisse Miller (20) wailing and screams could be heard.
She briefly stepped outside to thank those gathered there for their support. William C. Thompson Jr, a Democratic candidate for mayor, visited Miller on Monday morning.
Speaking to reporters beforehand, he decried the “senseless death of our children,” and said that even with a citywide murder rate at record lows, “neighborhoods like Brownsville still have to deal with too high a level of violence.”
The shooting happened around 7.15pm on Sunday as Mr Hennis walked with Antiq from Ms Miller’s home to visit the boy’s great-grandmother a few blocks away. A gunman, whom the police have yet to identify, fired four bullets in the direction of the father and son. Two of the rounds struck the stroller and one hit Antiq in the left side of his head, killing him, the police said.
The great-grandmother, Lenore Steele (72) said she had been sitting outside with relatives nearby when she heard the shots. She then saw Hennis running toward her, pushing the stroller. He called to her, saying that his baby had been shot, she recalled Monday.
The police Monday were investigating the possibility that the shooting had been retribution for an earlier dispute, possibly involving Hennis or one of his associates. “We’re still trying to determine his contacts,” Kelly said.
According to court records, Hennis pleaded guilty last year to selling heroin. Currently on probation, he was arrested in June for a misdemeanor assault stemming from a domestic dispute. It was not immediately clear whether the dispute had been with Antiq’s mother or another woman.
Tony Herbert (49) a community advocate who has been in regular contact with Antiq's relatives, said the shooting was "gang related" and that "the father is no innocent player."
He said some in the community had identified the gunman and were trying to persuade him to turn himself in. But the police said they had no suspects.
As investigators worked round-the-clock shifts to solve the killing, officers in the 73rd Precinct, which covers Brownsville, were bracing for the possibility that someone might retaliate for the shooting, the police said.
New York Times