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The accused Harlem smoke-shop gunman was beforehand arrested for taking pictures at cops, however a judge diminished his bail and he was finally launched — free to allegedly kill two folks hours aside this previous weekend.
Messiah Nantwi, a 21-year-old alleged gang member, was first arrested Feb. 21, 2021, when he pulled a .22-caliber handgun on three cops who tried to bust him for spray-painting graffiti within the Bronx, in response to the NYPD and Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Nantwi allegedly shot on the police, who fired again 31 occasions and struck him with a number of rounds.
He was critically wounded — however after he recovered, authorities charged him with three counts of tried homicide on a police officer, cops stated.
Records present he was held with out bail — till Acting Bronx Supreme Court Justice David L. Lewis ordered him held on $500,000 bail at his March arraignment.
The district lawyer objected, however the judge moved ahead anyway.
Lewis then additional diminished Nantwi’s bail to $300,000 afterward, as soon as extra over prosecutors’ objections.
Nantwi’s household ended up posting the required 10%, or $30,000, to free the allegedly trigger-happy teenager in mid-2021.
His trial within the case remains to be pending.
Then Tuesday, cops arrested Nantwi as soon as extra — however this time for a pair of killings, together with Sunday’s bone-chilling, caught-on-camera execution wherein the now-21-year-old allegedly put two rounds by way of Brandon Brunson, a 36-year-old Brooklynite, throughout a dispute at a Harlem smoke store.
Cops additionally say Nantwi fatally shot Jaylen Duncan, 19, hours earlier, on Saturday afternoon, a couple of half-mile away on Madison Avenue and East 132nd Street.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig stated Tuesday that Nantwi focused Duncan in a gangland assassination.
Duncan belonged to a rival gang, the chief stated.
Police don’t consider that Nantwi knew Brunson earlier than his smoke-shop slaying.
Essig stated Nantwi is a reputed member of Harlem’s OTN Goodfellas gang, which has been recognized to run ruthlessly roughshod over the neighborhood whereas trafficking weapons.
Nantwi has been charged with homicide in each instances.
A rep for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office declined to remark Tuesday when requested in regards to the judge’s resolution to decrease Nantwi’s bail within the 2021 case.
“We had made our objections in court docket,” the representive stated.
Some law-enforcement sources have been extra frank of their evaluation of the state of affairs.
“Finally took somebody to die to get this man off the road,” a supply stated.
A Bronx cop accustomed to the 2021 taking pictures added, “If he would have been saved in jail for taking pictures at cops, these two folks can be alive at present.
“There is sufficient blame to go round. Lenient judges and diminished bail equal harmless folks getting killed.”
Nantwi allegedly killed Brunson in the smoke shop after the pair had phrases as they stood close to the shop counter, in response to cops and surveillance digicam footage obtained by The Post.
As Brunson turned and went to depart, Nantwi pulled a handgun and shot him as soon as at the back of the top, cops stated.
Brunson collapsed however was nonetheless alive, the footage confirmed. Nantwi then walked towards him, pointed the pistol and put yet another bullet in his again, police stated. Then he casually left the shop.
Brunson was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital.
Cops additionally say Nantwi fatally shot Duncan, who was rushed to Harlem Hospital however declared him dead.
Police acknowledged Nantwi from video and linked shell casings to each killings, cops stated.
Police arrested Nantwi once they noticed him using a CitiBike throughout a video canvas on one hundred and fifteenth Street and Lenox Avenue on Monday evening, Essig stated.
Close by, they discovered the handgun allegedly utilized in each murders — he’d both dropped or tossed it, the chief stated.
