The teen shooter who fatally gunned down a 16-year-old “peacemaker” in Soho rode to the killing in a CitiBike basket and was identified in part by his distinctive Air Jordans, according to court documents.
Henry Thomas was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge in Manhattan Criminal Court Saturday in the May 7 murder of Makhi Brown, who was killed a half a block from the charter school he attended, officials said.
The 19-year-old gunman was captured on camera wearing “distinctive black Air Jordans with red and yellow trim,” and getting into the CitiBike basket before the shooting, according to the criminal complaint against him.
When the bike arrived in Urban Plaza between Spring Street and Dominick Street, about a block from Brown’s school, the shooter “stepped out of the basket and fired a handgun three times,” authorities said in the complaint.
Brown was shot once in the back of the head and twice in the leg.
Brown was trying to be a “peacemaker” between two groups who were fighting, NYPD officials have said.
Investigators who identified Thomas and went to his Upper East side home found the sneakers he was seen wearing in the video, officials said.
Thomas was arrested there Friday by the U.S. Marshals Service and the NYPD.
In court, Thomas was wearing gray sweatpants and white high top sneakers trimmed in black. He was cuffed behind his back.
At the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Gina Nerone said Thomas “executed a 16-year-old high school student by shooting him in the head.”
Defense attorney, Adam Freedman objected to use of the word “executed.”
Judge Marisol Martinez-Alonso, who allowed Nerone to continue, explained to Thomas that if he refused to “come to court, proceedings will take place in your absence. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” Thomas answered loudly. He was taken to Rikers Island correctional facility, where he is being held without bail.
His family and friends waved and blew kisses at him as they left the court room.
One shouted out, “We love you.”
Thomas faces a minimum of 15 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life if convicted.
Brown played on a basketball team run by the NYPD 67th Precinct Clergy Council, a non-violence group also known as “The GodSquad.”