A reputed Queens gang member was arraigned on murder charges Wednesday in the 2019 shooting death of 14-year-old high school basketball standout Aamir Griffin.
Sean Brown, 18, was hit with second-degree murder and second-degree weapons possession charges in the senseless slaying at a basketball court, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said at a press conference Wednesday.
“At a bare minimum, when our kids go to the park or the playground, families should know that they are coming home,” Katz said, standing outside the same court where Griffin was shot and killed.
“At a bare minimum, it’s what we owe the families of Queens County,” she said. “Fourteen-year-old Aamir Griffin, a promising young student and athlete, never got home and his family is still reeling from his death.”
Katz said Brown, a reputed member of the Money World street gang, was aiming for a rival gang member but mistook the teen for his target, hitting the victim with one of three .380-caliber slugs.
Brown pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said the case was personal to him.
“All homicides are very important to the NYPD, but this one, this one hit close to home for me,” Harrison said. “See, I grew up a mile away from him in a co-op called Rochdale Village. I played basketball on this same basketball court.
“Me and Aamir went to the same high school, Benjamin Cardozo,” the chief said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am Aamir Griffin.”
Brown, who was identified by police just four days after Griffin’s death, fled the state and was arrested in California last month and extradited to New York.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies nabbed Brown on an arrest warrant and held him at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility pending the proceedings.
He is accused of firing the stray shot that killed the promising hoopster — known to friends as “Buddy” — on a basketball court at Baisley Park Houses in South Jamaica on Oct. 26, 2019.
Police said the shot was fired from the area of Foch Boulevard and Long Street — a distance of about a full football field.
Prosecutors said Brown was allegedly caught on surveillance footage fleeing the area after the shots were fired, entering a nearby deli and walking to the home of another alleged Money World gang member.
Video also showed Brown allegedly boasting, “I seen that n—a, I hit him. That n—- drop,” prosecutors said.
The senseless shooting shocked the entire community and prompted police to post a $10,000 reward for Griffin’s killer.
Brown was later identified as the prime suspect and tracked down in LA — until he was shipped back to the Big Apple over the weekend.
Police said he is “very well known” to cops at the 113th Precinct and is a person of interest in two other shootings.
Griffin was a freshman at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School when he was killed.
His family said he was already being recruited by college basketball scouts.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy