GRAND JURY INDICTS 15-YEAR-OLD BRONX GIRL ON TWO COUNTS OF
MURDER IN THE DEATHS OF TWO YOUNG MEN - MURDER CHARGES ARE
ALSO FILED AGAINST TWO OTHER SUSPECTS
Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a teenage girl has been indicted for the murders of two young men earlier this month. The grand jury charged Sharell Butler (a.k.a. Lady Red) with one count of Murder in the 2nd degree and one count of Manslaughter in the 1st degree in the shooting death of Christopher Umpierre. The grand jury indicted Butler, of 2411 Poplar Avenue, the Bronx, on the same charges in the stabbing death of John Hopkins-Drago.
Butler, a juvenile, is facing a maximum sentence of 10 years to life imprisonment on each count of murder if she is found guilty. Butler is being held without bail and is to be arraigned on the indictment in State Supreme Court, Part A, on Monday, February 9, 2009.
Mr. Johnson also announced the arrest of a second suspect in both murders, Carlos Colon (a.k.a. Banger). It is alleged that Colon was the person who fatally shot Umpierre and inflicted some of the multiple stab wounds that killed Hopkins-Drago. Colon, 20, of 114 East 104th Street, Manhattan, has been charged with Murder in the 1st and 2nd degrees, Manslaughter in the 1st degree, Robbery in the 1st degree, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd degree in the death of Umpierre. Colon was charged with Murder in the 2nd degree and Manslaughter in the 1st degree in the death of Hopkins-Drago.
A third suspect, Robert Pastore, (a.k.a. Magic), 19, of 529 Edison Avenue, the Bronx, has been charged with Murder in the 2nd degree and Manslaughter in the 1st degree in the death of Hopkins-Drago only. It is alleged that Pastore was “acting-in-concert” with Butler, Colon and others.
Umpierre was shot and killed during a home invasion robbery on December 19, 2008. The crime occurred in an apartment on Dewey Avenue in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx. Hopkins-Drago was stabbed to death two days later on December 21, 2008, in an apartment at 782 Pelham Parkway. The body of the deceased later was moved and dumped in a nearby alley.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Adam Oustatcher of the Gangs/Major Case Bureau.
|