NEW YORK — Three of four Brooklyn gang members convicted for a series of fatal shootings, including the murder of a 1-year-old boy, were sentenced Wednesday after the victims’ families addressed the defendants in the courtroom for the first time.
Brooklyn gang members sentenced in multiple shootings
Twenty-eight-year-old Dashawn Austin, 27-year-old Akeem Artis, 31-year-old Jayquan Lane and 36-year-old Travis Scott were a part of the “Hoolies” gang, which the district attorney says terrorized parts of Brooklyn between 2018 and 2021.
Austin fatally shot 27-year-old Janile Whitted, an alleged rival gang member, outside a club several months before killing 1-year-old Davell Gardner Jr. at a family barbecue at a park in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
Scott, a gang leader, was sentenced to 40 years to life for murdering 35-year-old Tyree Walker as he walked toward his home on Myrtle Avenue in 2018. His attorney asked for leniency given Scott’s family and admission of guilt, but the DA said that also in 2018, Scott shot another random victim — Frankie Bradley, who is now paralyzed.
Artis was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was convicted of multiple charges, including first-degree manslaughter for Davell Gardner Jr.’s death. The DA’s office says he was driving the car Austin was in at the time of the shooting.
The trial lasted six months. Lane is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
Victims’ families address gang members convicted in deadly shootings
Austin didn’t lock eyes once with Whitted’s father has he gave a victim impact statement.
“This coward … took life of my son March 3rd of 2020, which was not enough blood for him. He continued and then took life of a 1-year-old baby,” Whitted’s father said.
Tyree Walker’s wife said he left behind four children and his parents.
“We got justice today, so we’re just happy that this can be behind us … Just the wrong place, wrong time. We didn’t know these people. They were just on a vengeance that night,” Walker’s wife said.
“Unspeakable grief. And if they could act like that then, could you only imagine how they would act now, if they thought they could get away with the murder that they do?” Walker’s mother said.
The victims’ families told CBS New York the mother of Davell Gardner Jr. is still grieving and she did not come.
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