Arrest made in 2 separate Easter weekend murders in Harlem
HARLEM - The NYPD has arrested a man in connection with two separate murders over the Easter weekend in Harlem.
According to police, Messiah Nantwi, 21, is charged with two counts of murder, along with one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
Nantwi is allegedly the gunman seen in a shocking video shooting another man in the head inside a smoke shop at 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard on Sunday evening.
In the video, police say Nantwi can be seen pulling out a gun and shooting the victim, 36-year-old Brandon Brunson in the head, before shooting him in the head again while he is lying on the ground.
A still from a surveillance video allegedly showing Messiah Nantwi shooting and killing Brandon Brunson.
Nantwi was also wanted in connection to an earlier incident on Saturday around 4:40 p.m. when police said Jaylen Duncan, 19, was shot in the head near Madison Avenue and E. 132nd St. He was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
On Tuesday, Harlem's residents gathered outside the smoke shop where Bunsen was killed to demand that it be shut down.
"You never know when the next shooting is going to occur, and that's no way for any community to live and operate," said Shatic Mitchell, District Manager of Community Boar 10.
"The only thing this place has brought is violence. It brings opportunity for death, it brings opportunity for proliferation of drugs, and situations like this where it brings that level of negativity. It can't exist here," said Lermond Mayes, Chief of Staff to Assembly Member Inez Dickens.
The arrest for the two murders came amid a violent weekend, where five murders in total took place in the span of less than 42 hours across three New York City boroughs.
Sunday afternoon (Coney Island)
- Around 2:12 p.m., police said Kristian Vargas, 23, of Brooklyn, was stabbed in the torso at the intersection of West 23 Street and Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island.
- Vargas was transported to NYU Langone Hospital Brooklyn, where he was pronounced dead.
Coney Island fatal stabbing. (Citizen App)
Saturday afternoon (Brooklyn)
- Police said Ramon Cintron, 83, was found stabbed to death around 2:20 p.m. inside an apartment in Wyckoff Garden, a NYCHA complex in Boerum Hill.
- Police shared a poster of a man identified as Joevani Vale, who they believe may be connected to the attack.
"He’s a great person," Victor Santiago, the manager of a nearby grocery store where he bought scratch-off tickets, said of Cintron. "I consider him like a grandfather."
Saturday morning (Queens)
- Police found Jevaughn Jeminson, 23, of Florida, shot multiple times in the torso just after 2 a.m. near Selover Road and Merrick Boulevard in Saint Albans.
- He was transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police have not made any arrests in the three other murders.