Police have arrested a man for the murder of a young mother who was shot in the head while walking her 3-month-old baby in a stroller in New York City this week.
A senior law enforcement official confirmed the arrest to The Daily Beast, identifying the suspect as the baby’s father. Police have not officially released the name of the man, who was apprehended by United States Marshals and the New York Police Department’s Fugitive Task Force.
The arrest comes two days after the brutal murder of 20-year-old Azsia Johnson sent shockwaves through the city. The young mom, an aspiring nurse, was shot in the head near the corner of Lexington Ave. and 95th Street on Wednesday night by an attacker seen in surveillance footage wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants. He approached her from behind before firing the killing shot.
The official said Johnson had prepared to meet the baby’s father that evening and had in fact texted a relative just before she was killed to say she could already see him in the room. region.
“He is there. I see him. He is dressed in black,” the official said, she wrote.
Moments later, she was shot and her attacker, according to the official, began to drop his outer clothing as he fled. Police later recovered some of the items and arrested him in Brooklyn.
Johnson’s family said they filed several domestic violence complaints in the months before her murder, but no arrests were ever made. Police sources confirmed that she had filed several complaints about more than one alleged attacker.
The senior official who spoke to The Daily Beast said Johnson’s suspected killer had previously been on law enforcement’s radar following an incident on New Years Day in which he killed him. would have thrown against a wall. He had left by the time officers arrived, but the official said the man had received a misdemeanor assault suspicion card, meaning he was wanted for questioning in connection with the incident. the alleged attack. He had still not been apprehended in this case at the time of the shooting.
“We have called for domestic violence every day [unit]. You know what they told me, it’s not harassment if he makes a threat,” Johnson’s mother, Lisa Desort, said at a Thursday night vigil for the slain young mum.
“Now my daughter is dead. She’s dead!” she cried.
Investigators reportedly spotted one of Johnson’s exes shortly after his murder, with law enforcement sources telling the New York Post they were treating the murder as a “domestic” incident.
“She was targeted. It was a bullet to the head and there were powder burns,” a quoted source said.
Johnson’s mother addressed the man she believed responsible for her daughter’s murder in comments to NBC New York“I treated you like a son. I welcomed you into my home. I talked to you and calmed you down when you were upset. I fed you. Your little girl hasn’t and won’t have father nor mother.”
Johnson leaves behind the 3-month-old child she was with at the time of her murder, as well as a 1-year-old child.
