Arrest In 1-Year-Old's Death Part Of Massive BK Gang Takedown: DA

BROOKLYN, NY — The stray-bullet shooting that killed 1-year-old Davell Gardner Jr. at a Bed-Stuy cookout last summer was part of a gang war that terrorized Central Brooklyn for years, prosecutors said.

A massive indictment unveiled Thursday details accusations against 18 members of a Roosevelt Houses-based gang known as the "Hoolies" who authorities said are connected to four murders and eight non-fatal shootings since 2018, including the July shooting that killed Davell and hurt three others at a neighborhood playground.

Those charged include one of two gunman who fired into the crowd and a man who drove one of the shooters to the playground, prosecutors said.

"We now know that those responsible for his death are members of a violent street gang called the Hoolies," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said at a news conference. "...This is a first step toward fulfilling the promise we made to that family to bring justice for their son."

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Thursday's indictment comes after a similar takedown of members of the Hoolie's rivals, the "900 street gang," earlier this year. That takedown included 19 gang members responsible for at least 13 acts of violence in the last year, including two murders, according to officials.

The most recent charges cover a span from September last year to 2018, including the December 2018 murder of Hoolie member Jahlil Grant that Gonzalez said "supercharged the beef" between the two gangs.

The night Grant was killed by 900 gang members, more than a dozen "Hoolies" met at the gang's headquarters and planned retaliation, Gonzalez said.

By the next morning, they had shot a 23-year-old bystander on Ralph Avenue and Bainbridge Street, 35-year-old Tyree Walker on Myrtle Avenue and a 43-year-old bystander on Dean Street, prosectors said. The 23-year-old was left paralyzed, Walker — who was not a rival gang member — was killed, and the 43-year-old man survived a chest wound, officials said.

"They simply had the bad luck of living in rival turf," Gonzalez said of the victims.

In all, seven of the 13 victims hurt or killed by the Hoolie shootings included in the indictment were innocent bystanders, prosecutors said.

The shooter charged in the Davell Gardner killing, Dashawn Austin, has been in police custody since last year for another shooting included in the indictment, prosecutors said. He is also accused of pulling the trigger in the killing of gang rival Janile Whitted, who was shot outside a Bed-Stuy strip club last March.

Austin's arrest for that crime allowed law enforcement to wait until they could build evidence in the Davell Gardner case before charging him, Gonzalez said.

"The fact that he had been in custody gave us the flexibility to do this in this way," Gonzalez said, adding that coronavirus limitations on grand juries also played a role in the delay. "We wanted to get it right."

The alleged driver in the Davell Gardner shooting, Akeem Artis, was taken into custody this week, prosecutors said. The second shooter, who was also in Artis' car, has not yet been charged.

Artis was one of three drivers the Hoolies had set up during the shooting as part of a three-car "caravan" method used to avoid getting caught, prosectors said.

The Audi Artis drove — carrying the gunmen — is known as the "shooter car," while a Mercedes set up as the "blocker car" stopped police cruisers from getting through and a "chase car" sped off at the first sign of cops to lead them away from the shooting, according to prosecutors.

Thursday's indictment also revealed how the gang used an encrypted messaging app to plan and talk about the attacks on rival gangs.

The group chat even included debates about whether members should delete the app's contents each night in case law enforcement got a hold of their phones.

Rasheen Parnell — the only gang member indicted Thursday still on the loose — told friends "s*** a be nasty" if cops found the chat, according to the messages.

"He was onto something because these group chat messages and communication that police were able to get…helped us figure out exactly who was responsible for driving the violence in our community," Gonzalez said.

Besides Parnell, the rest of the 18 defendants are in custody, according to prosecutors. Ten are facing murder charges and face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

The indictments include top members of the Hoolies and will hopefully act as a deterrent for younger members, authorities said. The gang includes close to 100 members and several layers, according to police.

"The Hoolies is a much larger group than what's portrayed today," said Inspector Jason Savino, commanding officer of the NYPD's Gun Violence Suppression Division. "What we're seeing here...is the top of the food chain — the individuals that are the true trigger pullers, the shot pullers, the individuals that really founded the Hoolies."

These are the defendants charged in the indictment:

1. Travis Scott, 33, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
2. Jerome Noble, 33, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
3. Oras Howard, 26, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
4. Kenneth Hyatt, 29, of Brownsville.
5. Brandon Lee, 25, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
6. Rasheen Parnell, 27, of Bushwick.
7. Jerry Washington, 21, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
8. Jamel Bleach, 33, of Stuyvesant Heights.
9. Dashawn Austin, 25, of Canarsie.
10. Devine Moore, 25, of Sunset Park.
11. Jayquan Lane, 28, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
12. Dominick Scott, 28, of (not available).
13. Akeem Artis, 24, of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
14. Freedom Williams, 27, of East New York.
15. Michael Parnell, 19, of Bushwick.
16. Lamore Weems, 23, of East New York.
17. Unique Newell, 21, of East New York.
18. Jonathan Arroyo, 29, of Stuyvesant Heights.