Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Sean Brown was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the mistaken-identity shooting death of 14-year-old Aamir Griffin in a South Jamaica playground and for an unrelated weapon possession charge. Brown mistook the teenager for a rival gang member in the 2019 shooting.

District Attorney Katz said: “Aamir Griffin’s killer has been brought to justice, but we know the heartache continues for his loved ones. No child should feel unsafe going to a park and no parent should ever have to bury a child. Gang gun violence has caused too much harm in our communities. We will continue to do everything in our power to get illegal guns off our streets in order to prevent another family from suffering such a tragedy.”

Brown, 21, of 153^rd Street in Jamaica, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree, conspiracy in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Brown today to 25 years on the manslaughter charge, five to 15 years on the conspiracy charge, and five years for the illegal gun. The manslaughter and weapon sentences are to be served consecutively with the 30-year prison term to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

According to the charges:

• On October 26, 2019, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Aamir Griffin was playing basketball at the Baisley Park Houses. From nearby Foch Boulevard, reputed Money World gang member Brown mistook him for a rival gang member and fired three shots from a .380-caliber handgun.
• One bullet penetrated Griffin’s upper chest, pierced both his lungs, and killed him.
• Brown was one of 33 reputed gang members charged in March 2023, perhaps the largest gang takedown in the history of the Office of the Queens District Attorney, a wide-ranging 151-count indictment variously charging the defendants with conspiracy, murder and other crimes.
• At the center of the conspiracy was the blood feud between Southeast Queens street gangs Money World and rivals Local Trap Stars and Never Forget Loyalty. While the gang war was set off by a slashing in April 2019, the tensions and violence between the warring factions escalated with Griffin’s murder. After Griffin was gunned down, there were more than 22 shootings between the gangs, one of them fatal.

Assistant District Attorney Barry Frankenstein, Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorneys Diana Schioppi and Charles Dunn under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan Sennett, Bureau Chief, and Michelle Goldstein, Senior Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard Brave.