Two suspects in the gang-related shooting of a 16-month-old baby on a Brooklyn sidewalk are in custody in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where cops tracked them this morning after a multi-agency, tri-state manhunt.
Parolee and accused triggerman Dequan Breland, 23, and his alleged accomplice, Dequan Wright, 19, had been hiding out at the apartment of Breland’s cousin, and gave themselves up after cops knocked at the door at daybreak, cops said.
“They knocked on the door and the occupants refused to open it,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a press conference today.
“The officers breached the door to gain entry. In the rear bedroom they found Dequan Breland on the floor and Dequan Wright lying on the bed,” Kelly said.
Adorable Antiq Hennis was being pushed in his stroller by his father, Anthony, 21 — a reputed Cripp — along Bristol Street near Livonia Avenue in Brownsville on Sunday when Breland allegedly opened fire, with Wright at his side and from close range.
Sources have alleged that Breland and Wright were targeting the dad, who has a lengthy record of drug and other offenses and with whom they had a beef — but missed and struck the baby instead.
Meanwhile, the dad is continuing not to cooperate with police, Kelly said. No weapon has been recovered, though there were four 45-caliber shell casing at the scene of the homicide.
Breland is on parole for a 2011 armed assault in Cayuga County in upstate New York; Wright has numerous sealed juvenile arrests, mainly for assault, sources said.
Investigators with US Marshals Service and the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force joined with detectives from the 73rd Precinct and Brooklyn North Homicide in tracking the pair, both of whom have ties to Wilkes-Barre.
Breland is dating Wright’s sister, who lives there in a public housing complex, Kelly said. The sister had told cops that the men had been there days earlier but that she didn’t know where they were; a canvass of neighbors turned them up at another complex nearby, Kelly said.
“They left no stone unturned,” he said.
At least one eyewitness has implicated Breland as the shooter and told cops that Wright handed the gun to Breland just before he pulled the trigger, the commissioner said.
If the two waive extradition, they would be arraigned in Brooklyn as early as tomorrow; if not, an extradition hearing would be held in Wilkes-Barre sometime within the week, officials said.
The boy’s wake and funeral are tonight.
Additional reporting by Sabrina Ford