Boy, 15, arrested in shooting death of 11-year-old Kyhara Tay’s
A 15-year-old who allegedly gunned down an innocent 11-year-old Bronx girl in a botched moped drive-by was caught Friday hiding out in a hotel with his mom, officials said.
Matthew Godwin was arrested for the broad daylight murder of Kyhara Tay, who was killed by a stray bullet Monday as the teen shooter was allegedly targeting a 13-year-old boy, who was not hit, police said Friday.
Officers took Godwin into custody at 2 a.m. Friday at Hotel 95 in the Harding Park area of the Bronx, where the family had checked in the night before, officials said at a news conference Friday.
“We will continue to fight for Kyhara. Also, the tragedy here is we are talking about a gunman who is too young to be a gunman,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark told reporters.
“It’s incomprehensible but no longer incredible for what has been going on in The Bronx,” she went on. “Kyhara was, unfortunately, the second child in the Bronx killed by gunfire, being shot by a teen.”
The teen was slapped with charges of murder, manslaughter, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, all as an adult. Cops said they were still looking for the moped’s driver, 18-year-old Omar Bojang.
Godwin’s mother may still be charged as officers “surmise” that the family was hiding from law enforcement, Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
Police said Godwin and Bojang were chasing a 13-year-old on Fox Street Monday, as the target tried to shake them by ducking into an apartment building and assisted-living facility before he ran south on Westchester Avenue.
The person on the back of the scooter opened fire at just before 5 p.m. — but instead of hitting the intended target he took down Kyhara, who was visiting a nail salon with a friend.
The 13-year-old and his parents had spoken to police but it wasn’t clear what the motive was in the shooting, officials said.
“This is what we are finding that’s fascinating, the shootings are over nothing,” Mayor Adam said.
It wasn’t clear how police had found out Godwin was staying at the hotel with his mother and three other children, police said. Law enforcement officials breached the door after no one answered knocking, cops said.
Godwin and his mother were in the room with three other children, officials said.
Godwin had no prior arrests, but had been the victim of a shooting on Jan. 6, police said. In October 2019, he had also been smacked in the face at age 12 and asked if he was a member of a gang, according to the NYPD.
Oscar Garcia, the super at the Bronx apartment building where Godwin lives with his parents, said “there’s been trouble every day” since the family moved in within the last couple years.
There was a large police presence at the Bronx apartment building where the alleged shooter lived with his parents. The building superintendent said “there’s been trouble every day” since the family moved in within the last couple years.
“They have eight or 10 guys coming to the apartment every day,” he told The Post. “They’re between 14 and 19 years old. They arrive on motor scooters … I’m sure it’s a gang.”
He added, “I didn’t see the guys today and thought ‘thank God.’”
He called the accused killer “a problematic kid.”
“There’s always graffiti near their apartment,” the super said. “I think it’s the kid doing it.”
But neighbor Cassandra Soto called the parents “nice people” and said her 14-year-old son is Godwin’s best friend.
“I can assure you, that little boy, Matthew, did not do this,” she said. “I guarantee you, they will find this is a case of mistaken identity.”
The teenager has “never been a trouble maker,” Soto claimed.
“He wasn’t in a gang,” Soto said. “He would never hurt another child. He’s not that kind of a kid.”
Godwin has three older brothers, one of whom is a security guard, Soto claimed.
At Friday’s news conference, the mayor pointed the finger at the gun industry.
“We are still being held hostage by a gun industry that is putting profit over public safety,” Adams said. “People are having their entire childhood taken from them.”
Police were asking for the public’s help in locating Bojang, who was previously being sought for possible involvement in a series of Bronx robberies where the perpetrators lured victims using social media before robbing them at gunpoint, police said.
Bojang was arrested in June 2020 in a case held in youth and been shot in the leg in two separate incidents, according to authorities.
Additional reporting by Georgette Roberts
