Baby shot in head over ‘online feud by killers who were targeting her dad’

A seven-month-old baby has been shot dead in New York City after gunmen opened fire in what police believe was a targeted attack aimed at her father.

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The child, Kaori Patterson-Moore, was in a double stroller with her two-year-old brother as their parents, Jamari Patterson and Lianna Charles-Moore, walked through East Williamsburg on Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators say Patterson had been involved in a social media feud with individuals linked to a rival housing project, and the attackers were allegedly targeting him.

The shooting happened near the corner of Humboldt and Moore Streets at around 1:20pm, when two men riding a moped drove the wrong way down the street and opened fire toward a group that included adults, children, and the stroller.

Kaori was fatally struck, while her toddler brother suffered a graze to his back. The family ran into a nearby shop for safety.

Her mother, Charles-Moore, described the moment the attack unfolded. “We thought it was fireworks, but my son jumped out of the stroller and I picked him up and carried him,” she said. “I was hugging him and then when I looked to my left, my daughter was just there, lying there. She was shot in the head. She was just bleeding. It was just too much.”

She added that Kaori had only recently begun saying “mamma”. After the shooting, the suspects fled but crashed their moped two blocks away. Police said the passenger was thrown from the vehicle and later taken to hospital with a leg injury.

The individual, identified as 21-year-old Amuri Greene, has been named as a person of interest and is expected to face murder charges. He was also taken into custody in connection with an unrelated domestic incident.

Authorities are still searching for the driver of the moped, whose identity is known to investigators but has not been publicly released. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said surveillance footage showed the suspects deliberately driving into the area before the passenger fired multiple shots.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the violence, saying the city must not become desensitised to such tragedies. “We cannot accept this as normal in our city. We cannot grow numb to this pain,” he said, adding that more must be done to tackle gun violence. A manhunt remains ongoing as investigators continue efforts to locate the second suspect.