NEW YORK – The man suspected in the Times Square shooting Saturday night, where two women and a 4-year-old girl were injured, was pulled over in the parking lot of a McDonald’s in Starke, Florida, while in a vehicle, according to reported the NYPD during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Officials say 31-year-old Farrakhan Muhammad was with who they believe is his girlfriend, and who was identified, according to court documents obtained by our sister network NBC 4, as Kristine Jamaica Vergara who has an address in Florida. Vergara was interrogated and initially denied having knowledge that the suspect was fleeing justice, the document says. However, he would later have admitted that he was helping the fugitive escape from the authorities, the document details. He has not received charges.
The two reportedly left New York City after the shooting, according to a senior law enforcement official, although it is unclear whether the woman knew he was wanted after the Times Square shooting. No further details about his arrest were immediately available.
According to New York City Police detectives during the investigation they used surveillance camera footage that showed the alleged gunman leaving Times Square after the shooting and heading to a hotel in West 42nd Street. There he changed his clothes and was seen dating his girlfriend, a senior police official said.
The two are believed to be heading south and there was a tip Tuesday that the duo were in North Carolina, where they apparently stopped at a Walmart to buy food for two dogs traveling with them, police said. Following that, new information emerged Wednesday that Muhammad was in the Starke area and local detectives and U.S. marshals were monitoring the community, authorities said.
He was arrested in Starke around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday after US Marshals spotted him at the McDonald’s, authorities said. They described his arrest as “without incident”.
Muhammad and Vergara are currently being held at the Bradford County Jail and the investigation continues. The dark van he and his girlfriend were driving was towed to a seizure yard for further investigation, authorities said.
NYPD officials said their investigation into the motive for the shooting was ongoing. Muhammad’s brother confirmed to the Police that he was the target of the attack. The weapon used in the shooting has not been recovered.
The suspect would be extradited to New York City after the trial.
Police had been searching for Muhammad for days in connection with the shooting in the heart of Manhattan, one of the busiest and most touristy areas of the city: Times Square.
Police noted that Muhammad was allegedly trying to shoot his brother after an argument at the time, but failed, injuring the three innocent victims.
All three victims are still in recovery. Each, a 4-year-old Hispanic girl from Brooklyn, a 43-year-old Hispanic woman from New Jersey, and a 23-year-old girl visiting the city for Mother’s Day from Rhode Island suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds. .
