In a collision of two of the country’s biggest stories, police in Florida have arrested the man believed to be responsible for a New York shooting that saw a four-year-old girl shot after the suspect ran out of gas for his vehicle due to the severe shortage impacting the southeastern United States following the hack of an oil pipeline.
Farrakhan Muhammad is accused of opening fire in Times Square on Saturday, May 8, injuring two adult women and a four-year-old girl in the process. Stunning video captured the aftermath of the shooting, and a vendor was heard describing “two shots” and telling bystanders that “they was bleeding, the toddler was bleeding and the mom was crying.” In addition to the four-year-old, the other victims were a 23-year-old woman and a 43-year-old woman.
All of the people struck were bystanders. They include a four-year-old, 23-year old, and 43-year-old. None are related. One is a tourist visiting the city from Rhode Island. They were struck when one of four men in a dispute pulled a gun and fired shots, per sources.
— Myles Miller (@MylesMill) May 8, 2021
Hours after the shooting, police identified Muhammad as the shooter and began to search for him. Security cameras tracked him to a New York hotel, where he changed clothes and was then believed to be traveling south. On Monday, Muhammad was spotted in North Carolina, continuing to head south. Today, police in Florida arrested the suspect after he ran out of gas due to the national gas shortage that is crippling much of the southeast.
New York media reported that Muhammad was found in his vehicle after it ran out of fuel due to the ongoing crippling gas shortages plaguing the southeast. New York police, however, refuted this, claiming instead that Muhammad was apprehended while eating at a Florida McDonald’s with a woman assumed to be his girlfriend. Regardless of the location of his arrest, Muhammad was arrested by U.S. Marshals after being spotted. Police have arrested Muhammad, and separately arrested the woman believed to be his girlfriend. She is charged with accessory after the fact.
The pipeline remains apparently inoperable due to the electronic instruments being hacked, with Colonial Pipeline refusing to pay the hackers’ ransom to release their computerized mechanics. The Biden administration refused to take a stand on whether Colonial Pipeline should pay the ransom, instead suggesting that it is “a private sector decision.”