A teenage suspect pleaded guilty Tuesday to a fatal stray-bullet shooting of a disabled and elderly East Harlem woman, the office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced.
Faisil McCants, 18, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison — and maximum of life in prison — for firing a machine gun that blasted Robin Wright in the head around 12:25 p.m. on Aug. 27 near E. 110th St. and Madison Ave., less than a block from the apartment she shared with her grandson.
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
NYPD detectives and Homeland Security agents escort Faisil McCants, 18, from the NYPD 23d Precinct station house in Manhattan, New York City on Thusday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
“Faisil McCants fired 15 bullets in a matter of seconds in the middle of the day, killing a 69-year-old innocent woman who was doing nothing more than standing by her walker on an East Harlem street,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
He is set to be sentenced on March 31, 2026.
McCants was nabbed Sept. 4 by authorities from Homeland Security and the NYPD Violent Crimes Task Force, and was charged in federal court with armed robbery and possession of a machine gun, according to the federal complaint — along with charges he faces in Manhattan Criminal Court that include murder and robbery.
An analysis by an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent of surveillance video, and 15 shell casings found at the scene, determined the shooter used a machine gun, and that the trigger was pulled only once, the complaint states.
“Nearly three months ago, Robin Wright’s life was cut short in what can only be described as a senseless, avoidable, and absolutely unacceptable tragedy,” said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Ricky J. Patel. “With today’s guilty plea, an admitted violent criminal will spend decades in prison with no choice but to relive the events—and the decisions—that landed him there, while an innocent woman’s grieving family prepares for their first holiday season without her. ”
Sept. 5, 2025: Teen’s bullet killed her: cops
New York Daily News Front page for Sept. 5, 2025: 18-year-old held in machine gun shooting; stray shot hit innocent woman using walker. Robin Wright was killed by an errant shot allegedly fired by Faisil McCants (inset), who was charged Thursday night.
The day of the shooting, McCants and two unidentified people robbed a drug dealer selling marijuana while he was napping in a lawn chair in front of a deli at the corner of E. 109th St. and Madison Ave., federal authorities allege in the complaint against McCants.
After a brief scuffle, McCants and his companions grabbed the drug dealer’s marijuana-filled backpacks and ran north on Madison Ave. before turning east on 110th St., as the dealer chased after them. McCants, identified in the complaint as the “tallest of the individuals,” then pulled out a black gun from his right sweatshirt pocket, and sent a spray of bullets in the direction of the dealer, the complaint states.
One of the bullets struck Wright, according to the complaint. Authorities recovered 15 bullet-shell casings at the scene.
Wright and a friend, Junita Arnold, were heading home with Chinese food and had just turned the corner onto E. 110th St. and were walking towards Madison Ave. when Arnold spotted three men in hoodies running across the avenue.
“I said [to Wright], ‘They looked like they got guns,’” Arnold told the Daily News. “I didn’t see the gun but I felt within myself, the way they were running.”
“I was right,” Arnold added. “Next thing, I heard six to seven gunshots and I’m standing there. I looked and my friend is down on the ground.”
Medics rushed Wright to Mount Sinai Hospital but she could not be saved.
“That [bullet] wasn’t for her,” Arnold said. “We were minding our business.”
