Shatavia Walls.Photo: Facebook
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Three New York City gang members have been charged with the murder of a former federal witness who once testified against their affiliate gang.
Federal prosecutorsannounced Mondaythat three men — Quintin Green, 20; Chayanne Fernandez, 21; Maliek Miller, 27 — are now in custody in connection with the targeted 2020 shooting of a Brooklyn woman. A fourth man, Kevin Wint, 27, has also been detained and charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Then, on the Fourth of July in 2020, Walls got into a fight with Ninedee Gang members over lighting fireworks in their housing project, during which Miller allegedly called her a “snitch” and fired a gunshot into the air.
On the evening of July 7, 2020, Walls was shot multiple times while walking through a Pink Houses courtyard. She succumbed to her wounds 10 days later.
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If convicted of murder in-aid-of racketeering, Green, Fernandez and Miller could face life imprisonment and the death penalty. If convicted of racketeering, Wint could face 20 years' imprisonment, plus up to 15 years' imprisonment for accessory after the fact to Walls' murder.
“This investigation serves as a warning to criminals who behave as if there are no consequences to their actions,” FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Jacqueline Maguire stated in a release. “We have the ability in the federal criminal justice system to put these violent gang members away for a long time, and we will persist in our efforts to get them off the streets.”
Acting United States Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis added: “It is our hope that today’s charges against members of the Ninedee Gang bring some solace to the family of Shatavia Walls as we seek justice for her senseless, cold-blooded murder.”
source: people.com