Five Manhattan Residents Indicted for Shooting and Robbery Spree
The spree that occurred earlier this year resulted in two gunshot victims, including a co-conspirator who died of his wounds. The five defendants face up to 39 felony counts in the indictment handed down by prosecutors.
Five young men, who were arrested over a period from May 10 to September 19 in connection to a series of shootings and robberies across the Bronx and Manhattan, were indicted by prosecutors facing up to 39 counts on an array of charges from manslaughter to criminal possession of weapons and grand theft of autos.
In the course of the crime one defendant allegedly fired a gunshot that killed their friend and co-conspirator, Dominick Allen, 17.
Those indicted include Kuran Brown-Wilson, 19, Tyron Burgess, 21, Quadiar Diggins, 17, Randy King, 22, and Nyriel Williams, 17 and they face a range of charges from
The incidents began on the evening of January 28, when Diggins, King, and Williams stole a Honda Accord from a delivery driver at gunpoint before driving it from the Bronx to Manhattan, where they were joined by Allen. The men then proceeded to the Sugar Hill neighborhood where at 2:56 AM, they fired several gunshots at a group of around three people, who fled in the opposite direction. An hour and a half later, they fired at another individual near NYCHA’s St. Nicholas Houses.
After switching license plates with another car, the group plotted another shooting. “Y’all [n-words] wanna spin again?” asked one of the men, according to prosecutors. “How long we sittin here?” At 4:59 p.m., Brown-Wilson, Diggins, and Williams entered NYCHA’s Wilson Houses and fired into the crowded lobby. During the chaos, Allen was struck by a gunshot wound in the back by one of his companions. The other three men then proceeded by car to Harlem Hospital with Allen’s motionless body and dumped it onto the floor of the lobby before fleeing.
Soon after Allen’s death, Williams told Brown-Wilson over text that he couldn’t sleep. “Got in contact wit qd he 50. [N-word] can’t sleep either... shit getting me makk.” Later, the group circulated a link to a YouTube video called “Fatal Teen Shooting—Manhattan,” which depicted police at the scene of the crime.
Over the next several months, the defendants plotted to obtain new guns and exchanged several photos of themselves flaunting their newly acquired weapons. Additional plans to set up victims culminated in a fake sneaker-buying deal, designed to lure the sellers into a gunpoint robbery.
On June 9, Brown-Wilson and Burgess confronted the two sellers with firearms at an undisclosed location. In the ensuing struggle, one of the sellers stabbed Burgess in the abdomen, before Brown-Wilson shot him in the leg. This would be the last of their “spins”—the same day, both men were arrested by the NYPD.
The other conspirators were rounded up with them. The first was Diggins, arrested on May 10 for possessions of a loaded gun. Two days prior to the sneaker ambush, NYPD officers executed a search warrant on King’s apartment. There, the officers arrested the defendant after discovering fentanyl, crack cocaine, and a loaded gun that was used in the January shootings. Finally, on September 19, Williams was taken into custody.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg emphasized the severity of the charges in a statement on Sept. 26. “Allegations like these are some of the most serious I can imagine, and our prosecutors are treating this case with the sober case it deserves,” he said. “We will hold accountable those who use gun violence to destroy our communities.”
Diggins, Williams, and Brown-Wilson are charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with manslaughter, among other charges. King and Burgess, who were not present at the Wilson Houses shooting, are also under indictment for lesser crimes.