Syracuse police arrested Chávez Ocasio, 23, on Monday, according to the OECD. Ocasio was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a second-degree weapon and manipulation of physical evidence. He pleaded not guilty in a lawsuit on Tuesday.
Ocasio faces life in prison and remains at the Onondaga County Courthouse, according to the OECD. Friday is expected in court.
The children were shot while in the back of a vehicle around 6:51 p.m. Sunday, Derek McGork, head of the investigation office, said during a news conference Monday.
McGork said two women were driving when shots were fired from a passing car. The women left and stopped when they realized the children had been shot, she explained.
“They drove away while shooting them. After he realized the children were injured, he stopped and called 911,” he said.
“She was just a baby,” Seymore told the subsidiary. “She was so loud. She didn’t even cry when it happened, but we lost her.”
Seymore said Dior would have turned 1 year old on April 29, according to WSTM.
According to WSTM, the grieving mother said her baby was loving, playful and full of life.
The two injured boys were identified as 3- and 8-year-old girls and are in stable condition, according to Syracuse Police Chief Kenton T. Buckner.
“These were babies in the back of that car,” Buckner said. Police did not say if the two women were injured.
Buckner said he had no information on whether the attack was targeted.
Ocasio was arrested in 2015 for second-degree robbery, a Class C felony in New York. Ocasio was released on parole in September 2019, according to New York’s Inmate Lookup website.