Brooklyn gang members convicted in stray-bullet slay of toddler Davell Gardner
Two gangbangers responsible for killing a 22-month-old boy at a Brooklyn cookout have been convicted of the tot’s slaying, in a pair of trials that covered an array of death and destruction caused by the bloodthirsty Hoolie gang.
A jury on Tuesday found Dashawn Austin guilty of murder, attempted murder, and other charges for the of shocking stray-bullet killing of little Davell Gardner Jr. in a Bedford-Stuyvesant park on July 12, 2020 killing, and the wounding of three other innocent victims. Davell would have turned 2 that September.
Akeem Artis, who drove Austin to the cookout where Davell was shot, was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and attempted assault by a separate jury on April 10. He was acquitted of murder.
Austin, Artis and two other members of the Hoolie Gang, Travis Scott and Jaquan Lane, were convicted after two Brooklyn Supreme Court juries heard about a string of murders and shootings committed as part of a gang war with their rivals in the 900 Gang. The men were all in their 20s and early 30s when they were charged in 2021.
“I’m glad justice has been served,” Davell’s grandmother, Samantha Gardner, told the Daily News Wednesday. “When they was caught I felt that it was just the beginning, and with the DA and the staff there, all the detectives, they was on the case and they made sure that they didn’t stop until everyone was caught.”
Even so, she said, she’ll never get to see the milestones in little Davell’s life. “We can only imagine what it would be like.
“I’m not the one to judge what happens at the end, but they deserve what they get. They killed a 1-and-a-half year old baby,” she added. “They deserve to get everything under the sun.”
Davell was sitting in a stroller at about 11:15 p.m., as his mom’s relatives gathered for a summer night cookout outside the Raymond Bush Playground on Madison St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, when a stray bullet struck him in the stomach.
That bullet came from Austin, who along with an unidentified second shooter sprayed gunfire into the park. The shooters rode in a three-car caravan, which included a “blocker” car and a “chase” car — a Volkswagen that sped off to draw police away from the shooters before they opened fire. The barrage of bullets also struck three other innocent bystanders.
Austin and Lane were also convicted of the March 3, 2020, murder of 900 Gang rival Janile Whitted, 26. The duo found Whitted in the Kinanm Lounge on Atlantic Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, then followed him to the Amour Cabaret on Nostrand Ave. near Herkimer St., a few blocks away, and shot him several times in the chest at close range outside the club.
Scott, meanwhile, was convicted of murder for the Dec. 4, 2018 shooting death of 35-year-old Tyree Walker, as he walked to his Myrtle Ave. home, and attempted murder for shooting and paralyzing another man, 23, that night.
“Today’s verdict sends a clear message that Brooklyn’s streets will not be playgrounds for gang wars. The reckless bloodshed perpetrated by these individuals not only robbed the innocent Davell Gardner, Jr., of a future but has also left an indelible scar on our community,” Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said Tuesday.
Austin, Lane and Scott face up to 25 years to life when Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentences them on May 8. Artis is slated to be sentenced May 1.
