The suspected Times Square gunman, who shot three innocent bystanders, has been identified as 31-year-old CD peddler Farrakhan Muhammad. Muhammad identified after he shot open fired at three bystanders including one 4-year-old girl, in a bizarre chain of events that led cops to his brother, who gave away his name.
According to the Midtown South Detective squad, it is seeking the public's assistant in locating and apprehending Muhammad "in regards to a non fatal shooting incident that occurred in Times Square." Muhammad was caught on camera firing at the bystanders and then fleeing the scene. However, his brother, who resembles him a lot, was traced by cops, following which he gave away Muhammad's name.
Creating Terror
On Saturday, a man blindly fired at around 4:55 p.m. in front of 1515 Browdway. According to the police report, the suspect is accused of discharging "a firearm striking three innocent bystanders at West 45 Street and 7 Avenue. The subject was last seen at West 42 Street and 10 Avenue."
The alleged shooter was caught on surveillance video at the scene of Saturday's bloodshed, and the images were widely disseminated. Police started looking for the man but he had fled the scene by that time.
Interestingly, two sergeants with the Manhattan South Detective Bureau were at that time working on a separate incident of a fatal overnight stabbing at a West 31st Street single-room-occupancy hotel. Following the shooting, the officers spotted a man who looked almost identical to the alleged shooter. So much so that he even had almost identical clothes like the shooter and was seen hanging around in the area, sources told the New York Post.
The officers approached the man to question him and told him that he looked just like the Times Square suspect, sources said. They initially thought this man could be involved in the stabbing but he gave a surprising reply. "I'm his brother," replied the man saying that he lived at the SRO, sources told the outlet.
The man then told officers that his brother had been aiming for him during the Times Square shooting, sources said. And then he gave away the name of his brother, who was then identified as Muhammad. "We have our heavy hunters looking for him," a source told the outlet.
Hunt on for Mohammad
Muhammad has since been at large and police is seeking help. His videos of the fatal shooting and then fleeing the scene too have been in circulation on social media. Also, the NYPD has released a video of Muhammad fleeing the scene.
Investigations and other police records have revealed that Muhammad has a criminal past. He had earlier been busted several times, including last year for allegedly assaulting a random passerby who tried to intervene when Muhammad started hassling a couple on the street.
He had allegedly pushed the man into a trash can before Muhammad's friend punched the victim in the face, sources said. Sources told the outlet that Saturday's incident was also random.
The shooting resulted from an argument between Muhammad and his brother. Three people were injured amid the gunfire: Wendy Magrinat, a 23-year-old Rhode Island resident shot in the leg, a 43-year-old woman from New Jersey in the foot, and a 4-year-old girl from Brooklyn was shot in the leg.
