Times Square shooting suspect in NYPD custody after extradition from Florida
The man accused in the Times Square shooting that left a 4-year-old girl and two others wounded is in NYPD custody after being extradited from Florida.
Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, was arrested at a McDonald’s outside Jacksonville on May 12 and flown into New York on Friday afternoon, police said.
He was processed at the Midtown South Precinct on Friday evening and charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, in connection with the May 8 shooting, according to the NYPD.
The handcuffed suspect, clad in sandals and socks, jeans and a white T-shirt and mask, ignored questions from reporters as he was marched out of the station and into a waiting car.
A detective at the precinct said Muhammad would be taken straight to jail on Rikers Island.
Muhammad’s girlfriend Kristine Vergara, 22, is charged with accessory after the fact to attempted second-degree murder, according to sources.
She was busted by US Marshals and members of the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force at the same time as Muhammad, as the two chowed down on burgers in the still-running car.
It is unclear if or when she will be extradited. The investigation into her is ongoing, the NYPD said Friday.
NYPD investigators were able to track Muhammad shortly after the broad-daylight bloodshed at the Crossroads of the World, thanks to a flood of anonymous tips about his movements.
Brooklyn youngster Skye Martinez, 4, was shot in the leg while shopping for toys with her family. Marcela Aldana, 43, of New Jersey and Wendy Magrinat, 23, of Rhode Island were also hit by the errant gunfire. All three are expected to make full recoveries.
Muhammad’s brother told police that the illegal CD peddler was aiming for him when he opened fire.
After his arrest, the suspect told Gainesville station WCJB-TV that he was not in New York at the time of the shooting. Muhammad claimed he was in New Jersey getting ready to drive to Florida to go house hunting.
“I still don’t know nothing,” Muhammad told the station from Bradford County Jail five days after the shooting. “I left New York a few days ago. I was in Jersey. I went to Jersey, took our two dogs with us. I packed our stuff up.”
Muhammad has a criminal record dating to 2007, including two felony robbery arrests and a 2012 bust where cops seized a 12-gauge shotgun, a 22-caliber handgun, and body armor, according to sources.
It was not clear when he would be arraigned.
