A woman who testified against a Brooklyn gang for shooting her and terrorizing her public housing apartment complex was killed by them aft...
A woman who testified against a Brooklyn gang for shooting her and terrorizing her public housing apartment complex was killed by them after being branded a 'snitch,' a court heard.
Shatavia Walls, 33, was gunned by two men near a walking path at the Pink Houses in East New York on July 7, 2020, according to authorities. She died of her wounds at Brookdale Hospital on July 17.
In a grand jury indictment unsealed at a Brooklyn federal court on Monday, prosecutors allege that Walls' murder was carefully planned and carried out by members of the Ninedee Gang. She was shot by a Ninedee member in 2017, and appeared as a federal witness in a subsequent 2019 court case into that shooting.
Walls was bullied and intimidated at the New York Housing Association block where she lived, with posters plastered over its walls condemning her for standing up for herself.
Matters came to a head on July 4 2020, when Walls clashed with the gang again for setting off fireworks at the housing complex.
Shatavia Walls, 33, confronted local Ninedee gang members over fireworks on July 4 2020
NYPD officers at the scene of Walls' murder at the Pink Houses projected in Brooklyn on July 7, 2020
Walls was murdered in the residential area of Louis Pink Houses days after gang members posted flying that labeled her a 'rat' throughout the complex
At the time of her testimony, she faced public humiliation in her building after gang members posted flyers that labeled her a 'rat' throughout the complex.
It was after an altercation over fireworks on July 4 that Ninedee members Maliek Miller, 27, who called Walls a 'snitch' and fired a gun into the air, Quintin Green, 20, and Chayanne Fernandez, 21, began plotting her murder, prosecutors said.
Green and another unnamed suspect, who was a juvenile at the time, decided to carry out the plot later three days later, according to court documents.
The pair 'waited at the Pink Houses all afternoon and through the early evening for an opportunity to shoot Ms. Walls, changing their clothes throughout the day in order to disguise their appearance,' prosecutors wrote in a memo filed Monday, urging a federal judge to order two members of the gang detained pending trial.
When Walls emerged from a building in the complex at about 9:25pm, Green came up from behind, exchanged words with her, then began firing a gun at her, the feds said. Green missed and hit an innocent bystander, prosecutors said.
Walls then sprinted away from Green, who gave chase while continuing to fire at her — at one point leaping over a fence to get a clear shot, according to the court documents.
In the chase, Walls' fate was sealed when she unknowingly ran toward a second shooter — the unidentified juvenile suspect — who opened fire, prosecutors said.
Green then caught up and gunned down Walls behind one of the buildings on Linden Boulevard, according to prosecutors. After the brutal murder, a number of Ninedee members hid out in Queens to avoid increased police scrutiny at the Pink Houses.
A memorial poster and vigil candles dedicated to Shatavia Walls by her friends and family after her murder
Walls' mother said her daughter approached the gang members on July 4 after then-Brooklyn Borough and newly-elected NYC mayor Eric Adams urged Brooklyn residents to talk to neighbors about fireworks instead of calling police
Fernandez, Green and Miller were each indicted on murder in-aid-of-racketeering charges in the slaying, and could face life in jail - or the death penalty.
A fourth suspect, Kevin Wint, 27, was charged with accessory after the fact for helping them hide out in Queens after the murder, according to court papers.
In the days after Walls’ death, her heartbroken mother told The Post that her daughter approached the gang members on July 4 after Borough President Eric Adams urged Brooklyn residents to talk to neighbors about fireworks, rather than call the police.
'She watched the news. Yes, she heard it,' Helen Testagros said at the time, referring to Adams’ advice. 'It was probably in the back of her mind.'
Attorney information for the suspects was not immediately available.
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