Two men have been charged in relation to the unintentional shooting of then 11-month old “Baby Catherine,” on Valentine Avenue and 198th Street in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx in January 2022, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.

 

As reported at the time, the then 11-month-old baby girl was shot by a stray bullet on Valentine Avenue and East 198th Street in the Bedford Park section of The Bronx on the evening of Jan. 19, 2022, while sitting in a parked car with her mother, as her dad picked up an errand at a nearby store. The baby’s first birthday was spent in hospital where she remained for several months in critical but stable condition, after being initially rushed there from the crime scene. She was discharged in May 2022, and continues her recovery journey.

 

Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Christie M. Curtis, acting assistant director in charge of the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and New York Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban, announced the unsealing on Wednesday, Aug. 9, of documents charging Ahmed Altorei, a/k/a “AK,” and Samuel Bautista, a/k/a “Sammy,” with distributing narcotics and carrying guns in connection with a drug trafficking operation based on the Grand Concourse and East 198th Street in the Bedford Park section of The Bronx.

 

Law enforcement officials said the defendants were involved in the street shooting on Jan. 19, 2022, that they said targeted a rival drug dealer but resulted in then 11-month-old “Baby Catherine” being shot in the face. They said Altorei was arrested on Tuesday evening, Aug. 8, and Bautista was arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 9, in an operation conducted by the FBI and the NYPD. Both were expected to be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein on Wednesday afternoon.

The following morning, Adams held a roundtable discussion in The Bronx with various cure violence groups and elected officials to discuss ways to address the plague of gun violence in the borough. He later held another roundtable on gun violence with the five district attorneys of the City, and subsequently released his blueprint to end gun violence to mixed reviews. Part of his approach, as reported, was the expansion of both the Saturday Night Lights program, and the Summer Youth Employment Program.

What followed was possibly even worse when four people, including two children under the age of 7, were gunned down in broad daylight by two masked scooter drivers beside St. James Park in Fordham Manor on July 11, shocking local residents. While all four victims are reported to be in stable condition, two people have since been arrested, and elected officials have taken legislative actions in efforts to address the gun violence crisis, some residents and the families of gun violence victims have been calling for even stronger measures to be implemented, saying this is required in order to see any real change.

 

On June 20, during Gun Violence Awareness Month, Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15) commemorated National Gun Violence Awareness Month by joining the family of the late Angellyh Yambo, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, and students from University Prep Charter High School to joined several elected officials in the South Bronx to announce new federal legislation banning ghost guns, and expanding the perimeter of gun-free school zones.

 

“I’m proud to introduce ‘The Angellyh Yambo Gun Free Zone Expansion Act of 2023’ in honor and memory of a beloved daughter, friend, and honor roll student who should still be with us today,” the congressman said at the time. “We are the only country in the industrialized world with an epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings, and the notion that this reality is the inevitable price we pay for our freedom is outrageous,” he added.

If passed, the Act would ban the transfer and possession of ghost guns and expand gun-free school zones from 1,000 ft. to 5,000 ft. for all public, private, and charter schools and early childhood education centers. The legislation would also go further than current federal regulations requiring manufacturers of ghost gun kits to become licensed under the Gun Control Act, to include serial numbers on the kits’ frames or receiver, and to run background checks on buyers, prior to a sale of a ghost gun kit.

 

Meanwhile, the defendants’ case is assigned to Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain. In the context of the announcement, Williams said, “On Jan. 19, 2022, on a day like any other, gunshots rang out in The Bronx. It was a targeted shooting. But one of the bullets hit an innocent victim, a baby girl who was just 11 months old, who was shot in the face as she sat in a car with her mother. The baby survived, and that’s a miracle.”

Williams continued, “But the emotional and physical trauma will never go away. Safety is a civil right, and like all rights, in order to keep it, we have to enforce it. That is why I am proud to announce that we have arrested and indicted the two men who we allege shot that baby girl. As United States Attorney, I promise you this: we will never abandon our communities, not a single inch, and our commitment to public safety will never waver, not for a single second. The people of this great city deserve nothing less.”

 

For her part, Curtis said, “As alleged, the defendants possessed firearms as part of a narcotics trafficking operation that directly led to the shooting of an 11-month-old infant. This is yet another unfortunate example of an innocent bystander being harmed as a result of drugs and guns. The FBI is committed to making our communities safer by removing violent drug traffickers from the streets.”

 

Meanwhile, Caban said the indictment proved once again that violence on the city’s streets will not stand. “The men and women of the NYPD will remain relentless in holding accountable anyone who allegedly dares to carry and indiscriminately shoot an illegal gun in New York City,” he said. “I thank and commend all of our investigators and everyone at the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District whose dedication to justice and public safety is reflected in these charges.”

NYPD OFFICIALS RELEASED this footage of the shooting which injured Baby Catherine in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx on Jan. 19, 2022. Video courtesy of the NYPD.

 

Williams went on to praise what he said was the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, and also thanked the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office for its assistance in this case. Officials said the case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael R. Herman and Thomas John Wright are in charge of the prosecution, officials said.

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

Norwood News has reached out to Baby Catherine’s parents for comment and will share further updates.

Anyone with information regarding this 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 CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.