Nine months later, charges brought in fatal shooting of 13-year-old girl

The 13-year-old was out with friends early on July 7 when she was unwittingly swept up in a dispute between two groups of young people, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said.

She started to run when someone fired a gun from a nearby stolen vehicle. A single bullet struck Miracle in the head, killing her.

Buffalo police investigated the slaying for nearly nine months – until Wednesday, when her accused killer was arraigned in Erie County Court.

Avantae Ayala, 21, who is currently serving state prison time for unrelated crimes, pleaded not guilty to the new charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

“We never gave up on this case,” Flynn said at a news conference following Ayala’s arraignment.

Ayala has been arrested five times between 2020 and 2023, the most recent coming one month after Miracle’s killing, Buffalo police records show. He also was shot in February 2022, when he was 19, according to police.

Flynn and Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia declined to offer specifics on what evidence led detectives to suspect Ayala in Miracle’s killing beyond saying, generally, that video surveillance and other technology is helpful in these types of investigations.

“We work hard at getting cases solved,” Gramaglia said. “We work hard at preventing crimes. But we work hard at getting cases solved and bringing some justice to the family.”

Miracle had turned 13 in May and had completed seventh grade at Dr. Charles Drew Science Magnet School a few weeks before the evening of July 6 turned into the morning of July 7.

Flynn, speaking Wednesday, said about 20 young people, including Miracle, were hanging out that night on Broadway near Mortimer Street in the city’s Willert Park neighborhood.

Unbeknownst to her, a couple of young men in that group had gotten into a “beef,” fueled by social media posts, earlier in the day with some other young men from a different part of the city, Flynn said.

Ayala, Flynn said, was part of the other group, and he and his friends piled into two stolen vehicles and drove over to Broadway and Mortimer.

They circled the block once before returning to slowly come down the street again, Flynn said, and that is when Miracle’s group started to scatter.

Miracle ran off, Flynn said, but the single bullet fired by Ayala hit and fatally injured her.

No one returned fire, according to the district attorney. Police later recovered the shell casing, but neither the bullet nor the weapon used in the shooting.

Miracle’s mother, Marie Hunt, was devastated at the loss of her oldest child when she spoke to The Buffalo News later that day.

“She was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Marie Hunt said.

Gramaglia said he and other department officials met with Marie Hunt in the hours following Miracle’s killing.

“That day was a very sad and tragic day. We should not be burying our children,” Gramaglia said Wednesday. “We should not be burying 13-year-old children.”

Ayala was arraigned Wednesday morning before Erie County Judge Susan Eagan after his indictment by a county grand jury was unsealed.

He was transported to court from Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, in the Finger Lakes, and appeared in court in a hunter green jumpsuit while shackled at his waist and ankles.

Ayala pleaded not guilty through his assigned counsel to charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was held without bail and, if convicted of the highest charge, faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

“I don’t want to get into evidence,” Gramaglia said afterward. “But cases like these show just how important technology is – our video surveillance systems, license plate readers, all the technology we work hard to invest in.”

Marie Hunt grew emotional during the arraignment. She and other family members declined to speak to reporters outside the courtroom.

Ayala went to prison earlier this month for convictions on charges of possession of a weapon and possession of stolen property, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Ayala was arrested five times within three years by Buffalo police, according to records provided in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

The accusations included twice crashing a stolen vehicle after refusing to stop for police, stealing a car in another incident and, on two other occasions, being found in possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Flynn, speaking at one of his final news conferences before he steps down as district attorney to enter the private sector, said he hopes the charges against Ayala bring some legal closure to Miracle’s loved ones.

“It was the summer between her seventh and eighth grade year of school. Like I said, straight-A student, a track star involved in cheerleading,” Flynn said. “She was an angel. And now she is, hopefully, in heaven with the angels.”