A gunman wanted for mistakenly killing a beloved Harlem grandmother with a stray bullet surrendered to cops Monday morning, a police official said.
The 23-year-old suspect showed up with a lawyer at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, police sources said. He was then taken to the 28th Precinct stationhouse, near where the shooting happened, to be processed.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
NYPD Crime Scene officers collect evidence on Lenox Ave. near W. 113th St. on Wednesday, the day after Excenia Mette was fatally struck by a stray bullet. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
He is expected to be charged with murder and attempted murder for allegedly opening fire last Tuesday night on Lenox Ave. near W. 113th St.
Police say he shot and wounded his intended target, Darious Smith, 23, but a stray slug hit 61-year-old Excenia Mette in the head, killing her.
The accused killer opened fire after Smith shot at him but hit nobody, according to cops. Smith, struck in the foot when the killer returned fire, took off on an electric scooter. Cops chased him down and nabbed him a few blocks away. He is charged with attempted murder.
Mette had stepped out of a hair salon to check on her grandson after hearing a commotion outside. The grandson was not involved in the clash.
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
Darious Smith, in a wheelchair, is pushed out of a courtroom after his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday. Smith, 23, was the shooter’s intended target, but another bullet hit Excenia Mette in the head. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
Mette was a longtime member of the National Action Network and former owner of Momma Zee’s Food to Plez on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd,, which she said was the first woman and Black-owned bodega in New York City since 1987.
