By Rich Bockmann
A fugitive who allegedly paralyzed a 14-year-old girl when he opened fire on a South Jamaica barbecue in 2011 was arrested Monday in North Carolina and was waiting to be brought back to Queens, where nearly a dozen counts of attempted murder await him, law enforcement officials said.
Tyrone Miller, 22, was arrested near Charlotte, N.C., by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on charges of being a fugitive from another state, the local district attorney’s office said.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the 22-year-old was waiting to be extradited to New York to be arraigned on 11 counts of attempted murder.
“The defendant is accused of taking mindless gun violence to new heights by deliberately firing into a backyard filled with young partygoers and wounding nearly a dozen innocent people — including a young girl now confined to a wheelchair because of his alleged actions,” Brown said. “This case will be vigorously prosecuted.”
According to the charges, Miller left a late-night barbecue on Inwood Road in August 2011 after he got into an argument with someone at the party, Brown said.
He returned about 10 minutes later with two other individuals who remain at large, and all three allegedly opened fire with handguns, the DA said.
Among the 11 victims who were taken to hospitals for gunshot wounds was then 14-year-old Lenaesha Cheatham, who was hit in the back by two bullets and is now paralyzed from the waist down, Brown said.
Deshawn Curtin, who was also shot, told TimesLedger Newspapers last year that he initially thought he had twisted his ankle.
“But then I saw a hole in my sneaker,” he said during an anti-violence conference at York College.
Miller is facing 11 counts each of attempted murder and assault, as well as two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. He faces up to 25 years in jail on each attempted murder charge if convicted, the DA said.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
