Man accused of shooting 4 people from a scooter in NYC appears before judge

By Zenebou Sylla and Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — A Brooklyn man accused in a string of random shootings across New York City appeared before a judge by video Monday to formally face charges in the rampage that left one person dead and three others wounded, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

The case against Thomas Abreu, 25, who police said was riding a scooter during the attacks, was outlined in a criminal complaint. He was charged with murder in the second degree, four counts of attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of assault in the first degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

A spokesperson for the DA’s office said Abreu appeared remotely before Judge Scott Dunn from a hospital.

CNN reached out to Abreu’s attorney, Jonathan Latimer, for comment and asked whether he entered a plea but did not hear back.

Abreu is accused of riding an illegal scooter without a license plate and opening fire at random at five different parts of Brooklyn and Queens, the New York Police Department said.

By the end of the rampage, an elderly man was dead and three other men were shot and wounded, police said.

“The streets of two boroughs were turned into scenes of terror as this defendant allegedly rode his scooter, shooting indiscriminately at pedestrians and others,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Monday. “Thank you to the NYPD for quickly apprehending the suspect. My office will hold him fully accountable and seek justice for the victims.”

Abreu is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, according to the district attorney’s office.

Authorities are still investigating the reasoning behind the attack and have not released a potential motive.

“We don’t know the motive. It seems that this is actually random,” said Joseph Kenny, assistant chief of the NYPD’s Detective Bureau. “At this time, video shows that he’s not targeting anybody, he’s not following anybody. As he’s driving on his scooter, he’s randomly shooting people.”

The five shootings unfolded over about a half an hour, starting around 11:10 a.m. Saturday in Brooklyn, Kenny said.

After the first shooting, detectives accessed video that showed the suspect approaching the victim from behind on a scooter and firing one shot, police said.

Seventeen minutes later – at 11:27 a.m., police say – the same suspect fired a gun at 86-year-old Hamoo Saeidi in Queens. Saeidi, who was shot once in the back, died after being taken to a hospital, Kenny said. Previously, police said the slain victim was 87.

When officers arrived at the scene, they learned of a third shooting scene. No one was struck by gunfire at that location, but witnesses reported seeing a man riding a scooter “randomly firing at a group of people,” Kenny said.

The fourth shooting happened at 11:35 a.m., when a 44-year-old man was shot in the cheek, Kenny said. That man was hospitalized in critical condition.

Less than a minute after that, the suspect shot a 63-year-old man in his right shoulder, Kenny said. That victim was hospitalized in stable condition, police said.

Police said the gunman used the same weapon in all the shooting incidents. The suspect had one prior arrest in New York City, according to Kenny.

The NYPD later said Abreu opened fire at a previously unreported sixth location. The suspect allegedly approached a 40-year-old man standing at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 131st Street in Queens and shot toward the man before fleeing. The man was not injured, police said.

The suspect was found with a 9 mm pistol and an extended magazine Saturday afternoon, police said.

NYPD Acting Commissioner Edward Caban said officers were able to find and arrest the suspect by quickly distributing an image of him to all nearby NYPD officers, asking them to be on the lookout for the shooter.

Authorities say they have not found a serial number on the gun and are investigating whether the firearm was defaced or might be a ghost gun.

In addition to the weapon possibly being illegal, extended magazines are also against the law in New York.

New York City has grappled with crime spikes since the pandemic. NYPD statistics from last year showed a 42.7% rise in major crimes through April 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, CNN previously reported. Data shows murder rates were up by 9.2% over the two-year period.

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CNN’s Nic F. Anderson, Artesmis Moshtaghian and Ashley R. Williams contributed to this report.