Reputed NYC gangbanger sentenced to 30 years for killing basketball star Aamir Griffin in 2019
A reputed Queens gang member who fatally shot 14-year-old high school basketball standout Aamir Griffin in 2019 was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, the Queens District Attorney’s Office said.
Sean Brown, 21, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter, conspiracy and weapons charges in connection with the senseless slaying, which authorities say was a case of mistaken identity.
Brown, a reputed member of the Money World street gang, allegedly opened fire after he mistook Aamir for a member of a rival gang, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said previously.
On Wednesday morning, Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Brown to 25 years for manslaughter, with an additional five to 15 years for conspiracy and five years for the gun charge.
The conspiracy and gun penalties will be served consecutively, the DA said.
Brown will be subject to five years of post-release supervision.
“Aamir Griffin’s killer has been brought to justice, but we know the heartache continues for his loved ones,” Katz said in a prepared statement. “No child should feel unsafe going to a park, and no parent should ever have to bury a child.
“Gang gun violence has caused too much harm in our communities,” she continued. “We will continue to do everything in our power to get illegal guns off our streets in order to prevent another family from suffering such a tragedy.”
Aamir’s tragic killing shocked his neighborhood when it happened at about 8 p.m. Oct. 26, 2019.
That day, Aamir — a freshman at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School who was already being recruited by college scouts — was playing basketball at the Baisley Park Houses when Brown saw him from a football field away and thought he was a rival gangbanger.
Brown pulled his .380 and squeezed off three shots, the DA said.
One bullet pierced Aamir’s chest, tore through both lungs and killed him.
“At a bare minimum, when our kids go to the park or the playground, families should know that they are coming home,” Katz said in 2021 as she stood by the same court where the child had died.
Cops identified Brown as the potential killer just four days after the shooting.
But he fled to California, and eluded arrest until LA County sheriff’s deputies picked him up in the summer of 2021 and extradited him to New York.
Aamir’s mom, Shanequa Griffin, told The Post at the time that she was relieved to find her son’s killer was sent back to the Empire State to face justice.
“He took a lot from me,” she added. “He broke my heart. I just want him to know that he is going to get what he deserves.”
Prosecutors said surveillance cameras caught Brown running away after he fired the shots.
Video also showed Brown allegedly boasting, “I seen that n—a, I hit him. That n—- drop,” according to prosecutors.
Cops said previously that Brown was “very well known” to officers in the local precinct.
He was one of 33 reputed gang members nabbed in a March 2023 takedown that led to a 151-count indictment that charged the many defendants with murder, conspiracy and other crimes, Katz said.
The alleged offenses — which included nearly two dozen other shootings — stemmed from a blood feud among three rival gangs in southeast Queens: Money World, Local Trap Stars and Never Forget Loyalty, the office said.
The gang war included the New Year’s Eve 2020 shooting death of 26-year-old Sean Vance, prosecutors said.
The alleged triggerman — Tymirth Bey-Foster, who is still being held on murder charges — allegedly assaulted a Rikers Island guard earlier this week, leaving the seven-year veteran of the Department of Correction with several facial and sinus fractures as well as a cut under her eye.
