A grand jury has handed up indictments charging four people in connection with two shooting incidents in Schenectady County.
On May 27th while attending a Memorial Day cookout, 19-year-old Ayanna Hunter was shot to death at the Hillcrest Village apartment complex in the Town of Niskayuna.
That shooting incident is believed to be connected to another shootout in the City of Schenectady on July 4th.
Schenectady County District Attorney Bob Carney walked reporters through the case involving Hunter’s death — which has garnered a lot of local interest over the past three months — on Thursday.
“A Schenectady County Grand Jury began hearing testimony regarding the events surrounding her death, ultimately hearing from 24 witnesses and receiving 270 exhibits and evidence over four separate sessions. That grand jury has now reported four separate indictments, charging four individuals in connection with this incident and a related matter that took place on July 4th, 2019 on Emmet Street in the City of Schenectady.”
Carney went on to say that Hunter was shot to death by two individuals, Wayne Brown and Pierre Thompson, but that their actions were legally justified. Carney believes Hunter was the initial aggressor, Brown and Thompson defended themselves, and that Hunter arrived to the party armed with a handgun.
According to Carney, Hunter, who allegedly was feuding with one or more people at the party, fired her gun at Brown, who was also armed. Brown returned fire. Thompson then allegedly fired a separate handgun at Hunter, which may also have been fired by Brown, after taking the gun from Thompson.
During the fight, Hunter was shot once and she subsequently died from her injuries.
The grand jury found the shooting actions of Brown and Thompson legally justified, and as a result, the two are not facing homicide charges. However, they were indicted on charges of criminal weapons possession, and with tampering with physical evidence for removing the weapons and concealing them from law enforcement. Thompson was also charged with an additional count of possession of a firearm.
A friend of Hunter’s, Angela Rondon, faces three charges in connection with the incident. Carney said Rondon accompanied Hunter to the picnic and acted as an accomplice to Hunter’s possession of a handgun with the intention to use it unlawfully against another person. Rondon faces criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, and tampering with physical evidence charges.
Here’s Carney:
“Once again, a young person’s life has been lost due to a senseless obsession with the possession and the use of guns. And many others including young children in attendance at that Memorial Day party were endangered by gunfire. It was unusual that the initial aggressor that day was a young woman who was encouraged and abetted in her deadly behavior by another young woman who was her friend. It has been my experience that young people who are accustomed to possessing illegal handguns are far too quick to use them to resolve disputes without any contemplation of the risk that behavior entails.”
The case doesn’t end there.
The grand jury examined a shooting July 4th in Schenectady.
It was then, Carney said, Hunter’s stepfather, Jason Sellie, shot Brown in his torso. Brown then allegedly fired back, wounding Sellie in the ankle.
Again, it was determined that Brown’s actions were justified, but Brown was also charged with another count of criminal possession of a weapon.
Sellie faces five charges including attempted murder related to the July 4th shooting.
Carney commented on Sellie’s alleged actions.
“It is also ironic that most consequential charges returned in these indictments were against Ayanna Hunter’s stepfather, who worked for the City of Schenectady, is twice as old as the others, and should have known better than take the law into his own hands.”
Following the press conference, Ayanna Hunter’s mother, Charisse Sellie, spouse of Jason Sellie, called the DA’s statements biased and untrue.
“It was all talk about my daughter and what she may have been involved in and what type of person she was. And he hopes that she had better friends? What about Pierre and Wayne? What about them? What about what they were doing? Why did they come to cookout armed? Why did they come to a function, that was a fundraiser for my daughter, armed?”
Carney said the defendants named in the case are presumed innocent with the right to a fair trial. As prosecution is ongoing, the District Attorney said his office is open to listening to anyone with information.
“This is just the start of the case. And ultimately we will have to try these cases if that’s what the defendants want to do.”
