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Massive sweep nabs 32 Brooklyn gang members, including suspect in stray bullet shooting that wounded 3-year-old girl

The New York Daily News - 11/16/2022

A massive law enforcement sweep netted 32 suspects from a pair of bloodthirsty Brooklyn street gangs, including a suspect in the stray bullet shooting of an innocent 3-year-old girl as she walked hand-in-hand with her dad, authorities announced Tuesday.

The defendants from the rival Wooo and Choo gangs were charged in four indictments with 19 shootings, including the wounding of a 62-year-old bystander during their lethal beef, said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

The law enforcement duo said two of the 14 victims caught in the crossfire were killed as they detailed the 106-count indictments against 13 alleged Wooo members and 19 members of the Choo gang. A livery cab driver was among the victims, shot in the leg by a Wooo affiliate for simply playing a drill rap song by a Choo associate.

The charges against the defendants include murder, attempted murder, assault, weapons possession, conspiracy and reckless endangerment. More than two dozen guns were recovered by investigators in shutting down “the indiscriminate violence that terrorized the residents of 10 different housing developments,” said Sewell.

Tiny victim Teira Aiken, 3, survived a gunshot that tore through her shoulder as her dad stood helplessly alongside her outside a Brownsville daycare center on March 24. Father and daughter were together when the girl was hit by the bullet intended for another man picking up his 2-year-old son, cops said.

The girl’s father Teno Aiken, 40, told the Daily News that he was speaking with the intended target when the shots were fired.

Aiken recalled his daughter’s tears immediately after the shooting but didn’t realize she was hit by a bullet until removing her jacket and seeing blood.

The shooter jumped inside a waiting four-door BMW with a co-conspirator behind the wheel and the pair sped away from the scene. Staffers at the Creative Minds Family Day Care Center dialed 911 immediately after the shooting.

According to authorities, gunman Daleek Habersham allegedly sent a screenshot of a news article about the shooting to a private Instagram group — followed by the message that he “did bad.” The 23-year-old suspect was already arraigned and held without bail.

Police also arrested Princess Chambers, 23, for the shooting.

A police spokesperson could not elaborate on what role the women played in the violence.

“We aim to incapacitate two violent street gangs that have terrorized parts of Brownsville for too long,” said Gonzalez. “Their senseless and and indiscriminate gun violence upended the sense of safety for many residents and wounded a number of innocent bystanders.”

Authorities recovered 27 firearms during the long-term probe of the two gangs operating out of neighboring housing complexes in Brownsville, he added. The lethal dispute was sparked by the July 10, 2020, murder of Wooo member Shamet Boomer, with the investigation revealing two more of the gang’s members were killed by the rival Choo gang, officials said.

The Wooo gang launched a violent retaliation known as “Boomin’ for Boomer,” targeting members of Choo and a second local gang. According to officials, their response included a “shoot on sight” policy against their rivals.

In April 2021 a Wooo member slammed his car into a Choo associate as he crossed a street, with the victim surviving the attack and firing at the fleeing vehicle, authorities said Tuesday. Video collected by authorities traced the driver into Manhattan, where he was later spotted casually shopping inside Saks Fifth Ave.

Authorities cited another incident where shots were fired at a Choo member leaving a dentist’s appointment with his mother and younger siblings after they climbed inside the family car.

Gonzalez said the gang hostilities continued once the 32 defendants were under arrest.

“They caused quite a commotion inside Central Booking,” he said, “trying to get at each other even while in custody.”

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