Editor's note: Dashawn Austin and Akeem Artis were sentenced Wednesday after being convicted in April 2024 on charges in the shooting death of 1-year-old Davell Gardner and other charges, according to a statement from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. . Austin was found guilty of second-degree murder and Artis was found guilty of first-degree murder in the boy's death. Austin was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison and Artis was sentenced to 40 years, according to the release.
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Two men were charged Thursday in connection with the shooting death of a 1-year-old boy in New York City last year, according to a news release from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.
The baby, identified as Davell Gardner, was killed last July on the sidewalk in front of Brooklyn's Raymond Bush Playground.
Less than a year after that shooting, Dashawn Austin, 25, and Akeem Artis, 24, were arrested and charged in connection with the shooting and Davell's death. Both men are members of a local street gang called the Hoolies and the violence was motivated by gang rivalry and retaliation, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez's office.
Artis was the driver of a car from which Austin and a second shooter, who was not named, got out and then allegedly shot into a crowd attending a cookout on July 12, 2020, according to the indictment. Four people were shot, including the baby. The other victims, all innocent bystanders, survived.
The men are also two of 18 charged in a 63-count indictment for gang-related activity, including multiple counts of murder and weapons charges.
CNN is working to confirm legal representation for the suspects.
Between May 2018 and September 2020, members of the Hoolies gang are accused of committing four murders and eight non-fatal shootings involving nine victims, according to a new statement from Gonzalez's office. Seven of the 13 victims were innocent people who were not rivals of the gang, according to the statement.
“Insidious gang violence, as we allege in this case, has claimed and traumatized too many lives, including many innocents like Davell Gardner, a bright and beloved baby with his entire life ahead of him,” Gonzalez said.
New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says the alleged gang members were willing to kill “with no regard for the innocent people caught in the crossfire.”
“This violence has to stop and cases like these only become stronger when NYPD detectives and deputy prosecutors work hand in hand to build them from the ground up,” Shea said.
