Bronx teenager who has been charged in the shooting that took place near Bronx Criminal Court at the end of last year is linked to a separate nonfatal shooting in The Bronx of an elderly woman late last year, prosecutors said. Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Friday, Feb. 7 that a 15-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting a man across the street from the Bronx Hall of Justice in broad daylight in November 2024, as reported.

 

Clark said the defendant and another 17-year-old are also charged in connection with a shooting that left a 65-year-old woman wounded in the leg. “The defendant, only 15 years old, is allegedly responsible for multiple incidents of gun violence last fall,” the district attorney said.

 

“He allegedly brazenly fired shots right near the courthouse on the afternoon before Thanksgiving, killing a man and causing fear among the passersby. Due to the diligent work of detectives, the weapon used in the Bronx Hall of Justice killing was linked to two previous incidents. Again, we have a child allegedly using a gun with no regard for human life,” she added.

Clark went on to say that Jayden Baez, 15, who lives in an area south of Claremont Park, was arraigned on second-degree murder, attempted murder in the second-degree, first-degree assault, and six counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Gayle Roberts. She said he was remanded in custody and is due back in court in May.

 

She said co-defendant Ley Baio, 17, from the Olinville section of The Bronx was charged with attempted murder in the second-degree, first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. She said he was previously arraigned on those charges on Thursday, Jan. 9, when he was also remanded in custody.

According to the investigation, and as reported by Norwood News at the time, on Nov. 27, 2024, at around 2:42 p.m., in front of 280 East 161st Street [intersecting with Morris Avenue, also called Black Lives Matter Boulevard] and directly across from the Bronx Hall of Justice, the defendant allegedly took out a gun and shot Jerron Grant, 29, multiple times in the torso, causing his death.

 

The court heard that Baez then ran from the police and was arrested on a roof landing inside 303 E. 158th Street. The pistol, a 40-caliber, semi-automatic Taurus Millennium PT pistol, was recovered on the ground just below where Baez was crouched on a ledge. A short video of the aftermath of the scene can be viewed here.

Prosecutors said that prior to that incident, on Nov. 20, 2024, at around 6.18 p.m., Baez had allegedly passed a gun to Ley Baio inside 280 East 161st Street, and  Baio had gone, on a Citi Bike, with a third person not yet apprehended, to the vicinity of 571 Jackson Avenue in the Woodstock section of The Bronx.

 

There, they said Baio allegedly passed the gun to the third person who fired multiple rounds into a crowd of people. A 65-year-old woman was struck in the leg and required surgery to remove the bullet.

The court also heard that on Oct. 14, 2024, at around 6.20 p.m., Baez, allegedly fired multiple shots into a crowd of people behind 300 East 143rd Street in the Mott Haven section. Prosecutors said five .40 caliber shell casings were recovered from the scene and were subsequently matched to the gun used in the other two shootings.

The case is being prosecuted by Homicide Assistant Elizabeth Kamens under the supervision of Burim Namani, deputy chief of the homicide bureau, Christine Scaccia, chief of the homicide bureau, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division at the Office of the Bronx District Attorney.

Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Jose Mercedes of the 44th Precinct, Kevin Mockel, formerly of the Bronx Homicide Squad, Mariusz Jasiurkowski, Brian DiStefano and Michael Sheehan of the 40th Precinct, Brandon Ravello of the gun violence suppression division (GVSD) and Lamik Fitzgerald, formerly of the GVSD and now at the 40th Precinct, for their work on the investigation.

 The defendants are deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.