Two Brooklyn teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly fatally shooting 17-year-old Devonte Lewis in an ambush outside Midwood charter school in April.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced the charges on Thursday, saying the city would not accept cold-blooded violence on the streets of Brooklyn, and would seek justice for Lewis "whose life was senselessly cut short."
"This is a tragic and shocking case in which the defendants — just 15 and 16 years old — allegedly took the life of a 17-year-old student, brazenly shooting him in the middle of the day outside of a high school."
Malachi Simms, 15, and Quran Smith, 16, both of Flatbush, were arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice on an indictment in which they are charged with second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the investigation, on April 29 at around 2:40pm Simms and Smith fatally shot Lewis as he was leaving Urban Dove Charter School on East 21st Street near Avenue K.
Lewis, a first-year Urban Dove student who had recently started a maintenance job with the New York City Housing Authority, suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he died.
Surveillance video from outside the school allegedly shows both defendants raising their arms to chest height to fire at the victim and continuing to fire after he falls to the ground, and then fleeing on foot.
Police officers recovered .380 and 9mm shell casings and one live 9mm round at the scene of the shooting. A loaded .380 Taurus Spectrum Pistol allegedly fell out of Smith's pants when he was arrested on May 19, 2021.
Smith and Simms were held without bail and ordered to return to court on August 11. Smith faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count. Simms, because of his age, faces up to 15 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count.
