'Babies Killing Babies': Teenagers Charged in Shooting That Killed 3-Year-Old, Injured 7-Year-Old

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two teenagers were charged Tuesday in the shooting death of a 3-year-old who was killed while riding his tricycle outside his Buffalo home last week, officials said. The child's 7-year-old sister was injured.

“Literally, babies are killing babies,” Mayor Byron Brown said as city leaders announced the charges against a 14- and 16-year-old at an evening news conference.

Ramone Carter, 3, and Jamia Griffin, 7, were not the intended targets since the suspects shot another youth around 9:30 p.m. June 21, acting Erie County Prosecutor Michael Keane said.

The children's mother, Shakenya Griffin, told the Buffalo News the next morning that she heard gunshots and ran outside to look for her children.

“He ran straight towards me and he was full of blood,” she said. “I collapsed in my neighbor’s grass and said to call 911.”

Keane said each of the teens fired an illegal weapon, one with a pistol and the other with a revolver. Both boys were arraigned on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and weapons possession and were being held without bail at a youth detention center. The older boy will be sentenced as an adult if convicted, the prosecutor said.

The teens' names have not been released due to their ages.

Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia credited the cooperation of witnesses for leading police to the suspects, recalling how officers who arrived on the scene rushed Ramone to the hospital themselves in hopes of saving him.

“They were able to get this poor baby into a police car and drive him to (Erie County Medical Center) to try to give him a fighting chance,” Gramaglia said. “Unfortunately, we all know that this was not the outcome. The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Keane declined to comment on a possible motive when asked if the shooting could be gang-related.

“It looked like they were targeting someone else,” Brown said. “But the fact that these kids had guns and were so willing to use them indiscriminately is what brings us to this point today.”