FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Fourth Alleged Gunmen Indicted for the Murder of
Carey Gabay during J’ouvert Celebration
Engaged in Gun Battle between Warring Gangs in Middle of Crowded Street;
Three Other Alleged Shooters Previously Indicted
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a fourth man has been charged with the murder of Carey Gabay outside the Ebbets Field Houses in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on Labor Day 2015. Like the other defendants, who allegedly engaged in mutual combat during the early morning shootout, the latest defendant is being held equally responsible and was also indicted for murder.
District Attorney Thompson said, “As I have said before, we are determined to get justice for Carey Gabay and his family and to hold accountable everyone who was involved in the shootout that took his life by creating a killing field in the middle of a crowd. This indictment is another step in fulfilling this promise and we will continue to pursue this case until everyone involved in this senseless death is brought to justice.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Kenny Bazile, 30, of Canarsie, Brooklyn. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice on an indictment in which he is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment. He was ordered held without bail. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count with which he is charged.
In June, Micah Alleyne, 24, of Jamaica, Queens; Tyshawn Crawford, 21, of East New York, Brooklyn; and Keith Luncheon, 24, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn have been indicted of similar charges for their alleged role in the shooting. Stanley Elianor, 25, of Brownsville, Brooklyn was arraigned in October 2015 on an indictment that charges him with criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly having a loaded Mac-10 machine gun at the scene.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the incident took place during the early morning hours of September 7, 2015 in front of 1680 Bedford Avenue, which is part of the Ebbets Field Houses in Crown Heights. At the time prior to the shooting, the patio and street in front of the building were filled with hundreds of people, many of whom were celebrating J’ouvert, a traditional predawn festival that precedes the annual West Indian American Day Parade.
The building’s large patio was known to be controlled by the Folk Nation street gang, which has been engaged in a years-long war with the 8-Trey faction of the Crips gang, among others. Due to heightened tensions and despite the annual celebration, there were numerous armed gang members in the area that morning and they had the intention of shooting at rivals on sight, the investigation found.
At about 3:40 a.m., a group of 8-Trey members walked up from Montgomery Street, apparently heading toward the J’ouvert procession on Empire Boulevard, about two blocks to the south. Their presence in “enemy territory” sparked a gun battle between Folk Nation members and their affiliates, who were shooting from the street and the patio, and the 8-Trey members who fired from the street before fleeing north. An estimated two to three dozen shots were fired in two consecutive volleys from at least eight firearms, according to the investigation.
At the same time, Carey Gabay, 43, a first deputy counsel for the Empire State Development Corporation and a former assistant counsel to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was walking north on Bedford Avenue with his brother and a couple of friends after attending the J’ouvert procession. They happened upon the front of the patio just as the firefight broke out. The group ran to a parking lot located between the patio and the street and ducked near parked cars. A bullet struck Mr. Gabay in the head and he was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he died a week later on September 15, 2015.
Bazile, an alleged member of Folk Nation, was identified in a surveillance video shooting from the patio and then running back into the building from the patio ledge, holding a gun. A 9-mm handgun that was recovered after an unrelated shooting on October 2015 matches shell casings that were recovered from the area where the defendant was seen shooting. Bazile was apprehended on September 1, 2016 in Palm Desert, California.
As the three other co-defendants, he has been indicted for depraved indifference murder under the theory of mutual combat, meaning that the alleged gunmen all entered into a de-facto agreement to engage in a gun battle. Under this theory, all are equally responsible for the murder, regardless of who fired the bullet that struck Mr. Gabay, and a claim of self-defense does not apply.
The case is being investigated by New York City Police Department Detective Lorraine Winters of Brooklyn South Homicide Squad, Detective Sambath Ouk and Detective Raymond Weng of the 71st Precinct and Detective Michael Gaynor of the 70th Precinct, under the supervision of Lieutenant Chris Marrow, 71st Precinct Squad Commander, Captain Nicholas Fiore of Brooklyn South Detectives, Deputy Chief Vincent DiDonato, Assistant Chief Patrick Conry and the overall supervision of Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Emily Dean and Olatokunbo Olaniyan of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Kenneth Taub, Chief, and Mark Feldman, Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Crime Strategies and Investigations.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.