Cops have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the death of a 92-year-old woman killed by a bullet that entered her Bronx home through a first-floor window Tuesday evening, authorities said today.
Sadie Mitchell was rushed to a hospital after a bullet pierced a window in her East 224 Street home in Williamsbridge. She died several hours later.
Police officials say their investigation led them to an 18-year-old suspect, Jamal Blair. They say he lived about 11 blocks from the woman. Blair was charged with second-degree murder in connection with Mitchell's death.
In court Friday, the prosecutor said Blair admitted in both written and video confessoins to firing a round into the air after being chased while on his way home from school. The prosecutor also said the .22 caliber gun allegedly came from an older man who said Jamal could use it if he ever needed it and told him where to find it.
Blair's attorney, Angelo MacDonald, called the charge of second-degree murder an "overcharge" and said the circumstances did not represent the definition of reckless.
When asked if his client did, in fact, fire the deadly round into the air, MacDonald responded simply, "I don't know."
MacDonald also called Blair a "sympathetic character" and described him as being behind in terms of education and a traumatized individual. When he was 2 years old, Blair witnessed his father shoot and kill his mother. His father then disappeared, even escaping the clutches of the law, and Blair was left to be raised by his grandparents, MacDonald said.
Furthermore, the attorney said there are questions about the credibility of the lineup and confessions.
The bullet came through a first floor window and it's unclear if it was a stray or intended for the house, law enforcement officials said. It appears some youths had been in a fight nearby, cops said.
A neighbhor, identified as Mary Fields, told the New York Times Mitchell was watching tv around the time she was shot.
“She said she was going to fix something to eat and she was going to sit down and watch her game shows,” Fields said. About 5 or 10 minutes later, Ms. Fields said, Ms. Mitchell called to say she had been shot," she told the paper.
Fields’s husband, John, said he drove Ms. Mitchell, a devout Catholic, to a nearby convent every Thanksgiving, where she prepared food she had purchased for the homeless, the Times said.
Blair, who was remanded without bail, is next due in court on Oct. 28.
