Police released surveillance images on Thursday of four suspects wanted for the triple shooting that claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy and wounded two other teens in the Bronx.
Christopher Redding was gunned down outside the Bronx Alehouse on W. 238th St. near Putnam Ave. in Kingsbridge shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday. Redding was struck in the back, while the other victims, a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, were both hit in their right legs.
Investigators have narrowed their focus to three men and a woman sought in connection with the teen’s murder, which police now say is gang motivated despite the slain youth having no criminal record.
“Awesome kid, great. That gang stuff? That’s not him, you know. He’s like every other teenager. He likes music, but he doesn’t indulge,” Redding’s father, Bryan Corley, told ABC Eyewitness News. “This is a very tough time because it’s always the good ones that this happens to.”
The three teen shooting victims were rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where Redding died. The two other victims are expected to survive.
Investigators initially suspected the deadly triple shooting resulted from an argument inside a McDonald’s located on Broadway near the scene, where a worker described a dispute over spilt ice cream that led an adult woman and three men to attack a teenage girl inside the fast-food place earlier Wednesday.
“He was going to get something to eat. Some kids started trouble, words were exchanged, and that’s what happened,” said Corley.
Redding played football at Kennedy High School, according to his dad. He was known as a talented athlete.
“He was part of like a triple threat of wide receivers, where if you saw you were against them, you just knew you were never going to win that game,” Robin Reiter, whose son previously played on the Fastbreak Flag Football team with Redding, told Gothamist. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone play like that at that age.”
The victim’s family gathered to mourn Redding at his home in the Mt. Eden section of the Bronx Wednesday night.
“He was a good kid. No, a great kid. He was loved by everybody,” the victim’s uncle, 55-year-old Travis Wingate, told The News. “It’s still not really registering. Why would they start blazing at three kids who were only walking up the block? We’re just hoping for justice.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
