Wakir Bryant has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 2-year-old child, authorities said this morning.
Bryant, 27, of Newark was arrested about 10:30 p.m. Friday on charges of aggravated manslaughter and weapons offenses, said Anthony Ambrose, chief of investigators for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office homicide task force, Newark police and the U.S. marshals service arrested Bryant in the 400 block of South 16th Street, he said.
According to state and county records, since 2004 Bryant has been in and out of jail on charges ranging from unlawful possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and aggravated assault with a firearm to several drug distribution charges. He was most recently released from prison June 1.
Police had said they were looking for a white Pontiac Grand Prix in connection with the incident, which they say fits the description of the car seen by neighbors parked in front of the home on St. James Place in Newark’s South Ward early Friday morning.
Mikhy Robinson was shot in the head shortly before 9:50 a.m. Friday in his home on St. James Place, just south of Interstate 78, police said.
Wakir Bryant is being held in the Essex County jail on $1 million bail.
