Police have a suspect in custody in the cowardly July 4th mass shooting at a Coney Island barbecue that left eight members of the same family wounded — including four young children.
Robert Smith, 44, was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder Wednesday after being tied to the senseless Independence Day attack that stunned the Big Apple, the NYPD said on X.
Police have not said what may have prompted the shooting, but sources said it could be gang related.
The family was celebrating the holiday on Saturday night at a Coney Island park when a masked gunman draped in black opened fire on the group, sending them scrambling and leaving several wounded.
Smith’s arrest in the shooting comes one day after grandmother Carlene Pearsall made an emotional plea for justice during a speech near the crime scene by Mayor Zohran Maamdani.
“They shot our babies,” Pearsall said. “This is senseless. Our kids did not deserve that. My son is laying in a hospital bed saying, ‘Mom, what did I do to deserve this?’ Son, you did absolutely nothing.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” she sobbed. “It’s babies. It has to stop. It has to stop.”
The barrage of bullets left Pearsall’s 6-year-old grandson with a stomach wound, and three other youngsters — her 14-year-old son and 7- and 12-year-old nephews — with gunshot wounds to the legs.
Also shot were her nieces, 21 and 25, and her 33- and 37-year-old cousins.
Sources said Smith, who was arrested at his home in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning, has at least one prior gun bust in the borough from 2012.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore
