- Zurana Horton, 34, a mother of 12, was fatally shot in 2011 while picking up her daughter, 11, from school
- A second mother who testified was shot in her arm as well as an 11-year-old girl
- Testimony by a second witness has been delayed after allegedly threatened with death by the brother of the accused gunman
Jurors on Thursday watched video capturing the horrific moment a mother was gunned down in broad daylight while picking up her 11-year-old daughter outside a New York City school.
Behind her another mother was seen shot in her arm before staggering against a wall while trying to hide her own son from the alleged gang members' stray gunfire from a nearby rooftop.
This frightening surveillance video was presented at the Brooklyn Supreme Court on Thursday during the trial of two men accused in killing Zurana Horton, 34, a mother of 12, in 2011 and wounding two others, including an 11-year-old girl.
Mistake: Children are seen toppled on the sidewalk outside a Brooklyn school, Mrs Horton among them against a wall, after alleged gang members fired several shots intended for another gang
Tragic aftermath: Mrs Horton is seen lying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk as other victims and witnesses scramble in terror
Prosecutors say Andrew Lopez, 20, an alleged 8 Block gang member fired the shots meant for rival gang members from the Howard Projects while his brother Jonathan Carrasquillo, 24, gave the orders.
'When me and my son were on the floor, I noticed Mrs Horton fall down. I honestly thought she was shot in the head. There was blood,' said Unique Armstead, who was shot along with an 11-year-old girl nearby according to the New York post.
Mrs Armstead says that just before the shots were fired she passed a group of young men arguing on the street about a gun. Her testimony matched prosecutors' claims.
Feeling uneasy, she says 'I speed-walked to my son, and I held him. I was scared. I was trying to get out of harm's way.'
Senseless death: Mrs Horton, a mother of 12 from Brooklyn, is seen in photos taken a few years before she was tragically killed while innocently picking up her daughter from school in 2011
Family: Mrs Horton is seen among several of her children, left, as well as her mother
She took her son into a nearby store to wait it out. When the fight appeared to die down, she says she slipped back onto the street with her son by her side when a stray bullet shot straight into her arm.
She next saw Horton fall down dead.
Mrs Horton is seen sprawled out on the sidewalk beside a pool of blood on the surveillance video.
'I speed-walked to my son, and I held him. I was scared. I was trying to get out of harm's way.'
- Unique Armstead testified of final moments before shots rang out
Witnesses are seen cowering in fear around her.
'At the time, I thought it was a brick, but it was a bullet,' Mrs Armstead said of her injury.
Lopez, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, confessed to being the rooftop sniper according to initial reports by the New York Daily News.
The gunman said the shooting near Public School 298 in Brownsville had stemmed from a turf war between two Brooklyn gangs.
Lopez told police that 'he did not mean to shoot the ladies,' the source said.
A second witness had expected to testify in the shooting on Thursday as well but after threatened with death by the brother of the alleged gunman, their testimony has been delayed until Monday.
'The man is an emotional wreck,' Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Vincent Del Giudice said, according to the Post.
Lopez has been linked to a Brooklyn gang known as '8 Block,' who police say are engaged in a turf battle with the neighboring Young Guns gang.
Scene: The gunfire erupted from this Brooklyn apartment where the 8 block gang are said to have originated from and taken their name
Selfless: Mrs Horton shielded her daughter as the gunfire rang out around her along the sidewalk
More victims: In addition to Mrs Horton's shooting, another mother was shot in her arm as well as an 11-year-old girl
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said: 'We're certainly pleased with the fact that the investigation has identified Mr. Lopez and he's made statements and apparently made a full confession,' the Daily News reported.
Lopez told police he was aiming for rival gang members when a stray bullet hit the mother of 13 who was collecting her children from school.
Horton was planning to marry her boyfriend on Valentine's Day in 2012.
Also arrested were Lopez' half-brother, 17-year-old Kristian, and Carrasquillo.
All three live in a fifth-floor apartment inside 1800 Pitkin Ave., the same building from where the gunman opened fire, police said.
Carrasquillo was charged with murder, and Kristian Lopez was arrested for possession of a baseball bat, police said.
Andrew Lopez had a previous arrest for walking down Pitkin Ave. brandishing a loaded gun three years ago, sources told the Daily News.
The shooting frenzy in which at least 12 shots were fired began just 13 minutes after school finished.
Cheanne McKnight, 11, is recovering from a graze wound to her cheek, while a 31-year-old Brooklyn mom was shot in the arm.
Police recovered 12 9-mm shell casings on the roof of the Pitkin Avenue apartment and the sidewalk.
THE RISE OF NYC's ARMED AND RECKLESS 'YOUNG GUN' GANGS
A new generation of gangs have taken over the streets of New York City, with the 8 Block gang being one of more than 300 of them on the NYPD's radar.
Called 'Young Guns' due to gang members' typical young age - some as young as 10 - these gangs divert from the ways of traditional gangs, while found far more violent and unpredictable, according to authorities.
The result of these non-traditional gangs has turned many innocent bystanders into victims of cross fire after firearms are placed in the hands of individuals who have little experience or training.
There has also been a spike in sex-trafficking and prostitution in the last year, Lou Savelli, a leading consultant who founded the NYPD’s gang unit, tells the New York Post.
The Young Gun members' attacks are also said to be far more impulsive and emotionally driven, opposed to planned-out attacks so as to escape attention by the police and media.
'The 14-year-olds, the 15-year-olds, they are the worst,' Steve Bosco, 36, who drives a Wonder Bread truck down Brooklyn's Myrtle Avenue told the New York Times.
'Maybe they feel they have something to prove. The feeling for us is that they very well could shoot you if you don't give them the money, shoot you if you don't give them enough, shoot you if they have got everything they wanted.'
The more traditional gangs, like the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings, have far more strict rules and standards their members must abide by, according to the Post.
Their members are selected internally and evaluated. They also go through initiation rites and written rules of conduct that includes colors and language usage.
Andrew Lopez was 18 when police say he fired off the shot that killed Kurana Horton outside a Brooklyn school in Brownsville, an area that has the highest concentration of public housing in the nation.
The shots are said to have come from 1800 Pitkin Ave., an apartment building where the 8 Block gang members are said to have originated from after its establishment by Jonathan Carrasquillo's older brother Ismael, who is serving 20 years for murder.
Carrasquillo is the 24-year-old accused of ordering Lopez' shots from on top the apartment building.
When members of the 8 Block gang saw rival members from the Howard Projects on Pitkin Ave., they got into position to fire, according to authorities.
Though Lopez allegedly told police he didn't mean to hit those other people on the street, his spray of reckless gunfire struck three people, one fatally.
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