Teen suspect pleaded guilty Tuesday fatal shooting by stray bullet an elderly disabled woman from East Harlem, United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced.
Faisil McCants, 18, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison (and a maximum life sentence) for firing a machine gun that exploded. Robin Wright in her head around 12:25 a.m. Aug. 27 near 110th Street and Madison Avenue, less than a block from the apartment she shared with her grandson.
Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News
NYPD detectives and Homeland Security agents escort 18-year-old Faisil McCants from the NYPD's 23rd Precinct station in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday, September 4, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News)
“Faceal McCants fired 15 bullets in a matter of seconds in the middle of the day, killing a 69-year-old innocent woman who was doing nothing but standing next to her pedestrians on an East Harlem street,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
He will be sentenced on March 31, 2026.
McCants was detained Sept. 4 by Homeland Security and the NYPD's Violent Crime Task Force. He was charged in federal court with armed robbery and possession of a machine gun — along with charges he faces in Manhattan criminal court, including murder and robbery, according to the federal complaint.
An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent's analysis of surveillance video and 15 shell casings found at the scene showed that the shooter used a machine gun and that the trigger was pulled only once, the complaint states.
“Almost three months ago, Robin Wright’s life was cut short in a senseless, preventable and completely unacceptable tragedy,” said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel. “With today's guilty plea, the convicted violent criminal will spend decades in prison, with no choice but to relive the events – and decisions – that led him there, while the grieving family of an innocent woman prepares for their first holiday without her.”
September 5, 2025: Teen's bullet killed her: police
New York Daily News Front page September 5, 2025: 18-year-old caught in machine gun shooting; a stray shot hit an innocent woman using a walker. Robin Wright was killed by a mistaken shot allegedly fired by Faisil McCants (inset), who was charged Thursday evening.
On the day of the shooting, McCants and two strangers robbed a drug dealer selling marijuana while he dozed on a lawn chair in front of a deli at the corner of 109th Street and Madison Avenue, federal authorities allege in the complaint against McCants.
After a brief scuffle, McCants and his companions grabbed the drug dealer's backpacks filled with marijuana and ran north on Madison Avenue before turning east onto 110th Street as the dealer pursued them. McCants, described in the complaint as “the tallest of men,” then pulled a black handgun from his right sweatshirt pocket and directed a stream of bullets toward the dealer, the complaint states.
One of the bullets hit Wright, according to the complaint. At the scene, law enforcement officers found 15 shell casings.
Wright and his girlfriend Junita Arnold were heading home with Chinese food and had just turned the corner onto E 110th Street and were walking toward Madison Avenue when Arnold spotted three men in hoodies running down the avenue.
“I said [to Wright]”They looked like they had a gun,” Arnold told the Daily News. “I didn't see a gun, but I could feel them running inside me.”
“I was right,” Arnold added. “Next thing, I heard six or seven shots and I'm standing there. I look and my friend is laying on the ground.”
Medics rushed Wright to Mount Sinai Hospital, but she could not be saved.
“What [bullet] “It wasn’t for her,” Arnold said. “We were minding our own business.”
