The 16-year-old boy shot and killed in Soho on Tuesday was pointlessly murdered by gang members because he tried to stop two teen girls from fighting, police officials said Friday.
Hours after Mahki Brown had been tragically gunned down on May 7 in a courtyard between Varick and Spring Streets, amNewYork Metro reported that the teen was mortally wounded while trying to break up a fight between fellow students from Broome Street Academy.
Following further investigation, police learned that the timeline toward Brown’s death began the previous day, on May 6, when two teen girls passed each other in the hallway of the school and had a stare-down that led to an after-school altercation.
“After school they have [a] fight. The fight is broken up, everybody goes their separate ways,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny explained, noting that the feud was then reignited the next day in the Spring Street courtyard. “One of the girl’s brothers steps in and says hey, ‘there’s not going to be a fight today. My sister is not fighting anybody.’ He stands up for his sister and says she’s not fighting.”
Police say about 30 kids had gathered in the courtyard to watch the melee unfold. One of the combatants then spat at the other, leading the other adolescent to declare she would call in her brother in response. A few minutes later, the alleged killers would arrive at the scene.
“Two males, unidentified, show up to the scene on a Citi bike. One pedaling, one sitting in the basket,” Chief Kenny said. “Our victim is playing peacemaker here. He steps in to try to de-escalate the situation. One of the kids on the bike pulls out a pistol and fires three times.”
Brown — who is believed to be a friend of the girl’s brother who originally attempted to break things up — was shot once in the head and twice in the right femur. The youngsters scattered, leaving first responders to try and revive Brown, to no avail.
“We peered over from the roof and saw him bleeding from the leg and head. They were giving him CPR,” a nearby worker told amNewYork Metro on the day of the murder.
Brown was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:52 p.m. While police say they believe Brown was just a good kid who suffered for attempting to break up the fight, authorities say they believe that his killers have some gang connections.
Chief Kenny stated witnesses reported that at least one of the killers yelled “Whoopty,” indicating they may have an affiliation with the Woo street gang.
Police also say they have identified many others involved in the incident, but are not releasing their names due to their young ages.
Meanwhile, police believe Brown was only trying to do the right thing — and wound up paying the price.
“From speaking to the mother, he’s the kind of guy that would have stepped in to help anybody,” Chief Kenny said of Brown.
