Bronx man killed in mistaken identity shooting targeting his new car’s previous owner

How Farid Adeyi Sitting in his car last month outside a 24-hour laundromat a block from his Bronx home, he had no idea that a recent car purchase from one of his closest friends would lead to his own mistaken murder.

But moments later, 26-year-old Adeyi died in a hail of bullets while driving his Volkswagen Passat near the LaundryBee on White Plains Road near Rosewood Street in Williamsbridge.

Adeyi worked as a delivery driver for Amazon and had big plans.

“He wanted to go into the Marines,” said Adeyi's father, Kareem Adeyi, 64. “In the army you can study whatever you want, go to school, learn a profession. You know, become someone.”

Those dreams ended when Farid was killed by a 16-year-old criminal with the help of two accomplices, a father-son duo who were unaware the car had been sold and assumed its previous owner, their intended target, was behind the wheel, according to law enforcement sources.

When the gunman allegedly opened fire around 6:40 p.m. on Oct. 7, he intended to kill 26-year-old Carlton McKenzie, who had sold an unsuspecting Fareed a car just three weeks earlier, according to law enforcement sources and the victim's father.

Fareed's father says his son didn't know McKenzie was out on $100,000 bail fighting an attempted murder charge in the August shooting.

“If [McKenzie] If my son had told me about the problem, my son would never have bought this car,” Karim said. “Never, never, never.”

“I blame him,” Kareem said of McKenzie, who is not believed to have been present at the murder scene. “My son was his daughter's godfather. My son was kind to him.”

Devonte Moore, one of three suspects accused of wrongfully killing Adeyi, had good reason to seek revenge against Mackenzie.

Moore, 24, and McKenzie exchanged gunfire with each other across the street from the Gun Hill Road subway station on a commercial stretch of White Plains Road near E. 211th St. around 5:20 p.m. on Aug. 23, prosecutors said.

Both men were wounded, but Moore, who had been shot twice in the chest, was seriously wounded, and McKenzie was wounded only in the left thigh.

Six weeks later, Moore, back on the streets after recovering, allegedly went to the laundromat with his father and the teenager in an attempt to get even with McKenzie, law enforcement sources said.

“As soon as they saw the car, they jumped out without looking at who was the driver. [seat]”They just assumed it was Carlton,” Farid's father said.

Fareed, who was shot multiple times in the chest, died at Jacobi Medical Center, leaving his family, which includes his mother and two older sisters, devastated.

“They cry for him every day,” the victim's father said. “They miss him so much. They can't get over it.”

“He was a very cool guy, very gentle and calm,” he added. “He loved everyone. He loved his mother. If I wasn't home, he always took good care of the apartment, my car. He was a loving boy… We will never, never, never forget.”

Prosecutors and police say Moore's father, Norman Moore, 64, drove his son and a teenager believed to be unrelated to the Moores to the laundromat, then circled the block as the shooting unfolded and acted as a getaway driver.

Teenager presumably fired four shots.

Three suspects in Fareed's murder were arrested one by one over the following weeks and each was charged with murder.

Devonte was arrested Oct. 22, two weeks after the laundromat shooting, and charged with Fareed's murder as well as attempted murder in the August shootout with McKenzie.

All three murder suspects are being held without bail. Police are not releasing the teenager's name because he is a minor.

Meanwhile, McKenzie is scheduled to return to Bronx Criminal Court on Dec. 8 for his next appearance in the attempted murder case stemming from the August shooting.

Fareed's father saw Mackenzie only once after Fareed's death – at Fareed's funeral on October 11, when Mackenzie was trying to complete the paperwork to sell a car to his slain friend.

McKenzie could not be reached for comment by the Daily News, and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

“Since my son died [McKenzie] “I never set foot in this house,” Karim said. – He never called. But at the funeral he asked if I would sign the bill of sale. It's so cruel. I said, “No, I don't want your car.” It's incredible.”

With Thomas Tracy