New York – Police have arrested and charged a Jamaican man in the deadly shooting of a 19-year-old restaurant manager in East Harlem, Manhattan.
Police have detained, without bail, Winston Glynn, 30, charging him with first-degree murder and robbery following the death of Kristal Bayron-Nieves, a manager at a Burger King restaurant in East Harlem.
New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives James Essig told reporters that Glynn, a former employee at the restaurant, had four prior arrests.
He said Glynn wore a mask and demanded more money from Bayron-Nievers during the armed robbery.
“The man demands more money from the register drawer. As Miss Bayron Nieves is scrambling to open the drawer, she doesn’t have the key. The male fires one shot, striking her and causing her death.
“When you see the video, and think of this terrible incident – a senseless, brutal killing of a teenager who was doing the right thing, working on a Saturday night at 12:30, and had her life cut short – it both makes your blood boil and shocks your senses,” Essig added.
“All indications are that he knew this place well, that he pre-planned the event,” Essig said, with NYPD Chief of Department, Kenneth Corey adding “there was no reason to shoot this young woman”.
“Money had been handed over. She was trying to comply with the gunman’s demands. She was killed for no apparent reason.”
Police said that Glynn, who lives at a homeless shelter at the Days Inn, near John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, Queens, was found in Brooklyn and arrested.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, said he was struck by the callousness of the killing.
Police said Glynn will return to the Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday. (CMC)