As Fareed Adeyi sat in his car outside a 24-hour laundromat a stone’s throw from his home in the Bronx last month, he had no way of knowing that the recent purchase of the vehicle from one of his closest friends would lead to his own mistaken murder.
But moments later, Adeyi, 26, died in a hail of bullets while driving his Volkswagen Passat in front of LaundryBee on White Plains Road near Rosewood St. in Williamsbridge.
Adeyi worked as a delivery driver for Amazon and had big plans.
“He wanted to join the Marines,” said Adeyi’s father, Kareem Adeyi, 64. “In the army, you can study whatever you want, go to school, learn a trade. You know, become someone.”
Those dreams ended when Fareed was killed by a 16-year-old gunman aided by two accomplices, a father-son duo who didn’t know the car had been sold — and who assumed its former owner, their target, was behind the wheel, according to police sources.
When the gunman allegedly opened fire around 6:40 p.m. on October 7, he intended to kill Carlton McKenzie, 26, who had sold the car to Fareed without his knowledge three weeks earlier, according to police sources and the victim’s father.
Fareed’s father says his son was unaware that McKenzie was free on $100,000 bail and battling an attempted murder charge in an August shooting.
“If [McKenzie] If I had told my son about the problem, my son would have never bought this car,” Kareem said. “Never, ever, ever.”
“I blame him,” Kareem said of McKenzie, who does not appear to have been present at the murder scene. “My son was his daughter’s godfather. My son was good to him.”
GoFundMe
Farid Adeyi. (GoFundMe)
Devonte Moore, one of three suspects charged with Adeyi’s mistaken murder, had good reason to want revenge on McKenzie.
Moore, 24, and McKenzie engaged in a shooting in front of 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, according to prosecutors.
Both men were wounded, but Moore, shot twice in the chest, was seriously injured, while McKenzie was only shot once in the left thigh.
Six weeks later, Moore, back on the streets after recovering, allegedly went to the laundromat with his father and the teen to settle scores with McKenzie, police sources said.
“As soon as they saw the car, they jumped without looking at who was in it. [seat]”, said Fareed’s father. “They just assumed it was Carlton.”
Fareed, 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 laid back,” he added. “He loved everyone. He loved his mother. If I’m not home, he always took good care of the apartment, my car. He was a loving boy. … We can never, ever, ever forget.”
Prosecutors and police say Moore’s father, Norman Moore, 64, drove his son and the teen, who does not appear to be related to the Moores, to the laundromat, then drove around the block while the shooting unfolded and served as the getaway driver.
The teenager allegedly fired four shots.
The three suspects in Fareed’s murder were arrested one by one over the following weeks and each was charged with murder.
Devonte was arrested on October 22, two weeks after the laundromat shooting, and charged with murder for Fareed’s killing as well as attempted murder for the August shooting with McKenzie.
All three murder suspects are being held without bail. The teen’s name has not been released by police because he is a minor.
Meanwhile, McKenzie is due back in Bronx Criminal Court on Dec. 8 for his next appearance in the attempted murder case stemming from the August shooting.
Fareed’s father has only seen McKenzie once since Fareed’s death: at Fareed’s funeral on October 11, where McKenzie was seeking to finalize the paperwork for the sale of the car to his murdered friend.
McKenzie could not be reached by the Daily News for comment, and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
“Since my son died [McKenzie] I never set foot in that house,” Kareem said. “He never called. But during the funeral, he asked me if I would sign the bill of sale. It’s so cruel. I said, “No, I don’t need your car. »It’s incredible.
With Thomas Tracy
