An accused Queens street gang member admitted to killing a 14-year-old high school basketball player in what police called a case of mistaken identity.
Sean Brown, now 21, admitted to fatally shooting Aamir Griffin on Oct. 26, 2019 in South Jamaica. Brown is expected to receive a 30-year sentence as part of a plea deal.
“When I became the DA, I committed to bringing Aamir Griffin’s killer to justice,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Sunday in a statement. “We have succeeded and will continue doing absolutely everything we can to get illegal firearms and the criminals who use them off our streets.”
Griffin was shooting hoops at the Baisley Park Houses around 8 p.m. on the night of the killing when three bullets pierced his chest.
Aamir Griffin 14, was playing basketball near his house in the Baisley Park Houses when he was killed by a bullet fired from 100 yards away. (Bruce Cotler for NY Daily News)
Cops said Brown fired those gunshots from about 100 yards away and believed he was aiming at a rival gang member. But Griffin wasn’t part of any gang — he was a JV basketball player at Benjamin Cardozo High School.
Surveillance cameras later captured Brown bragging about the shooting to friends, according to police.
“I seen that n—-. I hit him. That n—- drop,” he allegedly said.
Brown was captured in August 2021 in Los Angeles. Cops told Griffin’s mother that they tracked him there through social media.
He was set to plead guilty in January and accept a 30-year prison term, but shockingly backed out of the plea deal in the courtroom.
In the new agreement, Brown is expected to receive a 25-year sentence for first-degree manslaughter for killing Griffin and five years on an unrelated weapons charge. His sentencing hearing was scheduled for April 10.