By Cynthia Koons
An Amber Alert was issued for the disappearance of 5-year-old Destiny Mitchell after her father, Jeff Mitchell, 46, allegedly pulled her from the mini-van she was in with her 3-year-old sister, Diamond Mitchell. Her mother was also at the scene.
The 5-year-old girl and Mitchell were discovered at the W. 4th Street subway station in Greenwich Village less than 12 hours after the alert was issued, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. The young girl was not harmed while she was with her father, the DA said.
“The defendant took his 5-year-old daughter, prompting an Amber Alert by the New York City Police Department, which led to the defendant's apprehension by police less than 12 hours later,” Brown said. “The defendant has been charged with using an illegal handgun and causing the death of his former girlfriend's new boyfriend.”
He is also being charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child and faces up to 25 years to life. if convicted Additional charges were pending, police said. Mitchell is due back in court Jan. 26.
The victim, James Young, 44, was at the home of his friend Percy Overoton on 130th Street in Ozone Park waiting for Destiny and her mother to arrive Saturday morning right before the shooting occurred.
“When I got to the door the little girl was standing here and he was outside and I heard 'pop, pop,'” Overoton said.
Young, who was staying in the area but ddid not have a known address, was killed by a bullet wound in the torso at 9:15 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Mitchell fled on foot with the girl.
Police commissioner Raymond Kelly announced the Amber Alert at the mayor's Saturday press conference about the cold temperatures, which were hovering in single digits at the time the girl was pulled from the van and fled with her father on foot.
“It's too cold out there for a grown person,” Overoton said. “He should have left the baby. He had no business with the baby.”
Overoton said the victim spent the night at his apartment prior to the shooting. When Young walked out of Overoton's to meet Destiny and her mother, he was approached by the gunman and killed in the street, witnesses said.
Destiny was standing in the foyer of Overoton's apartment after the shooting occurred, Overoton said.
“It scared the hell out of the little girl,” Overoton said.
He said that in the 13 years he has lived on the street, no crime like this has ever occurred.
Other neighbors said the street is normally quiet, but that could be changing.
“A lot of people are moving because people are getting hurt and killed (here),” said Duanna Ray, whose sister was friends with Young.
She last saw Young at Humble Way Church on New Year's Day. Young had just returned from spending a few months in the South, Overoton said.
Overoton said Young was excited to see Destiny when he returned from his trip.
“He loved kids,” Ray said. “He takes care of my sister's kids.”
Her sister notified her of the shooting, Ray said.
“I was in the house with my mom, and my sister called and said, 'Somebody is hurt,'” Ray said. Ray lives in the neighborhood and stopped by the corner of 130th Street and Liberty Avenue, where police blocked off the street, to see what she could through the lines of police tape stretching across the entire block.
Ray said Young was a kind person who never intentionally caused harm.
Overoton said he used Young's cell phone, which was still sitting on a poker table in his apartment after the shooting, to call Young's family to notify them of the murder.
He said his thoughts were with the child, as the temperatures dropped to near-record lows during the afternoon and evening.
“Young spent quite some time with (Destiny),” Overoton said. “That's what I worry about, the little girl.”
Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
