By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large

“She’s gone, and I can’t ever see her again,” cried Lianna Charles-Moore, the mother of seven-month-old shooting death victim Kaori Patterson-Moore. “I can’t kiss her. I can’t wake up and feed her her bottle…Everything I wanted to do with her, I can’t do with her anymore.”
The painful reaction to the April 1st “broad daylight” crossfire shooting has echoed throughout the city.

Video of the shooting led to immediate anger and instant grassroots cooperation to find the bike-riding killer and his accomplice. No port in the storm.

“They have got money for wars, but not for helping the community,” Brooklyn community advocate and artist Tai Allen told Our Time Press, “People are feeling disconnected and desensitized. There is definitely a mental health component. Some people are diabolical. Shooting at children requires a sentence.

There was a time, pre-crack, that if you shot a baby, you got excommunicated by the community. Now, I don’t know–they say that they’ve made the block hot, and so there is a level of excommunication. You don’t kill babies, elders or innocents. That’s universal in any community. But, it still speaks to mental health damage and the need for resources.”
It could be the climate. It could be the loss of the code.

In 1992, Tupac Shakur, along with Dr. Mutulu Shakur and other organizers, created the ‘Code of Thug Life’ to reduce violence and protect communities. The 26-point manifesto included the code of protecting the young: “Harming children was deemed unforgivable.”
At the end of March, a 9-year-old boy was shot in the leg in Brownsville when a group of young men began shooting.
Last week, Ms. Charles-Moore was walking with the baby in a stroller and her two-year-old son on Humboldt and Moore Streets in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.

It was just about 1.20 pm on a mild Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Suddenly, pedestrians and parents with strollers ducked and ran to get out of the way of errant gunfire. Kiaori’s parents dashed into a corner deli before realizing that their baby had been shot in the head, and their son had been grazed.
Ms. Charles-Moore was crying hysterically, as her fiance Jamari Patterson, picked up the child and ran 5 blocks to Woodhull Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

In an effort to get away, the shooter’s bike crashed, and the suspected gunman was injured, taken to Brooklyn Hospital, where he was taken into police custody. Looking for the driver of the bike, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced a citywide manhunt.
Almost instantly arrested alleged shooter, Amuri Greene, 21, and Matthew Rodriguez, 18, the suspected moped driver, caught on Friday in Pennsylvania, have been indicted on second-degree murder and other charges.

Police said the baby was an innocent victim in a gang-related shooting. But, Brooklyn D.A Eric Gonzalez said, “We allege that this was a targeted attempt at a person, but I am not prepared to say today definitively that the father was the target.”
A Saturday afternoon vigil was held for Kaori. Joined by members of the community, activists, electeds and clergy, the family spoke on the searing pain they are suffering now.

AG Tish James said, “We grieve with you, and we will support them in whatever they need.”
The state’s chief law enforcer declared, “We have to make sure that the individuals who are responsible for this heinous crime are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We need to address gun violence, and the fact that these communities like Bushwick, New York, and in urban centers all across the country, are flooded with illegal guns.”

Plus, “We also need to invest in these communities. They need to put guns down, they need to respect life, and turn their lives around,” she said. Anyone wanting to turn in a firearm can contact her office, she reiterated, and “There are so many programs that are available to them, funds and job training programs.”

“When we talk about gun violence, we also have to talk about mental and emotional health,” Enid Knight, Chronic Care Manager, told Our Time Press. “In the Black community, gun violence is complex. Some people carry weapons because they feel they must protect themselves or their families. Others may be driven by economic pressures, survival, or greed. But underneath many of these situations are layers and layers of unresolved stress, trauma, and anger that continue to build up…when people have no safe space to process what they are going through.”

This youthful rebellious behavior is international, though. In England, for example, in London, the youths have taken over some streets as they gather – social media and word-of-mouth summoned.
Last week, in Clapham, London, dozens of young people ran through the streets in what is termed “anti-social behavior” spurred by link-up “online trends.” The British press stated that some of the young people wore balaclavas (known as shiestys in the US), and some were armed with knives and fireworks.

Six teenage girls have been arrested.
Well-known UK activist Chris Preddie, OBE, with his Make Dreams Reality organization, presenting “Right now solutions, for right now situations,” said, “We’re the problem, but also the solution. Let’s get M.A.D. and Make A Difference.”

The former North London gang member Preddie has been tackling gun and knife crime, and hosting gang workshops, mentoring, and family support sessions. He said of the UK disenchanted youth–a message that may traverse borders, “WE FAILED THEM… NOW WE BLAME THEM…

Young people running around, chaos, anti-social behavior, arrests, and the headlines doing what they always do… pushing the negativity.
Yes, some of it is wrong. It needs addressing. But let’s ask the real question. What have we actually put in place for young people?
Over the years, we have taken everything away. Youth clubs–gone. Safe spaces–gone. Activities–gone.”

Tai Allen concluded, “We have to really invest in the community. Organizations like Save Our Streets does the work, but they are so underfunded. Continuity builds kids: you are married to the community, you are married to the school, and you are married to the kids. If you are trying to help somebody, especially if there is trauma and violence involved, they have to know that they can trust you.

You’ve got to adequately fund the staff and facilities that care for our children. Then they stay, the young people see them all the time, and they learn to know that they care. They feel safer, and they can seek help.”

Community healthcare specialist Knight, who works at the recently Crown Heights-relocated Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center, continued, “Gun violence is not simply a mental health issue, it’s emotional and when mental struggles go unaddressed, frustration, turn into anger, and anger alters a person’s state of mind. Their decision-making, and with that out goes their dreams.

If we want to truly reduce violence, we must also normalize mental health care, remove the stigma, and create spaces where people can seek support on all levels before pain and pressure turn into harm.”