Hunt for murder suspect mistakenly released from Rikers Island

NEW YORK - The Department of Correction is scrambling to find a murder suspect mistakenly released from Rikers Island Jail.

Christopher Buggs, 26, of Brooklyn was released at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Buggs had been held at Rikers without bail for more than three years while awaiting trial. 

According to the NY Daily News, Buggs was erroneously released after a judge sentenced him Monday to time served in a separate misdemeanor contempt case.  The sentence was mistakenly listed as the final disposition of his murder case. Staffers at Rikers didn't realize the mistake.

Buggs was arrested in 2018 for the murder of Ernest Brownlee, 55, outside a Bedford-Stuyvesant bodega. Brownlee was an ex-con who had killed two men in the 1980s. He was shot three times in the chest, reported the Daily News.

Buggs is considered dangerous.  He is described as Black, approximately 5'5" and 160lbs. 

The NYPD is asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
 
All calls are strictly confidential.