Prosecutor outraged over release of suspect who shot 13-year-old on way to school
WAKEFIELD, Bronx (WABC) -- The man accused of shooting a 13-year-old boy in the neck as the victim walked to school in the Bronx Tuesday morning was sitting on his stoop, pointing his gun at people on the street, police said Wednesday.
The victim, Khamani Garrett, attends Manhattan Business Academy in Chelsea and was walking to the subway by himself at the time.
The 36-year-old suspect, identified as Hubert Wiggs, is now charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and menacing.
Law enforcement believes Wiggs, who was out on parole at the time and has several gun arrests, is a member of a family of reputed gang members.
Police say he was randomly pointing his gun at people walking down the street, and when he pointed it at Garrett, the gun fired. It is unclear if it was intentional or not.
Garrett's mother and sister spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News.
"The first person he asked for help didn't want to help him," mom Abigail James said. "So then he asked somebody else for help, and they helped him. That actually hurt my soul. I could've been burying my son."
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What was unknown Monday is that the person Garrett initially asked for help was the suspect himself.
Video showed a dazed Garrett stumbling after he was shot. After not getting a response from Wiggs, he continued walking down the street.
He was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery, and he is expected to survive.
Officers arrived and encountered Wiggs, who was said to be acting erratically, and took him into custody.
"They gave verbal commands for that individual to drop that firearm," NYPD Assistant Chief Kenneth Lehr said. "The individual's initial reaction was to try and hide it in his waistband. They gave further verbal commands, at which time the individual dropped that object on the ground. When the officers moved in, took that individual into custody without incident and recovered a firearm."
Wiggs was taken to a hospital for evaluation, with arraignment pending.
"He said the man couldn't even look at him in his eye, he didn't look at him in his eye," sister Sanaa Garrett said. "He didn't know that he got shot. He thought it was a firework."
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Wiggs' .38 caliber revolver with one spent round was recovered at the scene, officials said.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark wants to know what he was doing out on the streets to begin with.
"There's a lot of gaps, there's a lot of failures throughout this process," Clark said.
Clark is outraged and says the shooting never should have happened.
"Once he committed yet another crime after being on parole for a violent crime, the system-the parole system-should have held him accountable," Clark said. "And there should have been a parole hold on him so that he couldn't even get bail in the first place on a new case."
Khamani will celebrate his 14th birthday on Monday.
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