One Arrest in Shooting Death of Harlem Hoops Star, NYPD Seeking Two Others

By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times

New York City police have arrested one man and are currently seeking two others in connection with the murder of a rising high school basketball star shot dead in a Harlem housing project last weekend.

Tayshana “Chicken” Murphy was shot in the Grant Houses last Sunday around 4:15 a.m. after the men allegedly confronted her over an argument she had nothing to do with.

The suspects reportedly cornered the 18-year-old point guard, a senior at Murry Bergtraum High School, in the hallway of her building and shot her three times as she pleaded for her life. She died at the scene.

Terique Collins was arrested Monday night at 1420 Amsterdam Avenue and is charged with criminal possession of a weapon. The 24-year-old man, who remains in custody in lieu of $250,000 bond, has a lengthy rap sheet that includes arrests for weapon and drug possession. Police records show he was recently nabbed on a possession of marijuana charge in May 2011.

Tyshawn Brockington and Robert Cartagena

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly identified two additional suspects at a press conference saying video surveillance places both Tyshawn Brockington and Robert Cartagena at the scene of the brutal shooting.

The duo can be seen in the footage carrying guns in their waistbands. All three men are residents of the Manhattanville projects and were in some sort of rivalry with residents from the Grant projects that turned deadly.

3170 Broadway Grant Projects

In the video footage, Murphy is seen in front of her 3170 Broadway apartment building with her brothers before she the shooting began.

Friends say Murphy, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt the night of the shooting, may have been mistaken for one of her brothers, "Bam-Bam," who the thugs allegedly argued with earlier in the evening.

Cartagena's mother, Denise told the New York Daily News that her son did not shoot Murphy, who she claimed jumped her son outside a C-Town supermarket on 126th Street the night before the murder.

Family and friends described Murphy as a loving girl who wanted to get her family out of the projects. Her mother, Tephanie Holston said she heard the gunshots and ran to the hallway where she found her daughter lying dead. As Murphy's body was carried to the Medical Examiner's van at 10 a.m. Sunday, Holston kissed the body bag.

Friends left candles and balloons in memory of slain hoops star shot dead in hallway of Harlem projects