15-Year-Old Brooklyn Boy Arrested for Murder That Shook East NY Housing Project

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — Homicide detectives announced Thursday that they'd found the person they believe is responsible for the broad-daylight murder of Cypress Hills Houses resident Tyrone Stewart, 31 — a shooting that left the public housing project's community shaken and angry in late September. In the days following Stewart's death, residents called for a larger police presence and better living conditions at the Cypress Hills Houses, which they hoped would ward off future violence.

The boy arrested and charged with Stewart's murder — Jyheim Dickerson, who lives directly across from the Cypress Hills Houses complex, in a two-story row house — is only 15 years old.

Dickerson will be charged as an adult for second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

[UPDATE: According to a complaint provided to Patch by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, the office in charge of prosecuting Dickerson, the suspect himself admitted to detectives, and witnesses confirmed, that it was he who "repeatedly shot Tyrone Stewart with a firearm."]

Stewart, the shooting victim, was found bleeding out "with multiple gunshot wounds to the body" in the lobby of the building just north of his — at 1200 Sutter Ave. — around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, police said.

Stewart was rushed to Brookdale Hospital in nearby Brownsville, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

In the NYPD's 75th Precinct covering East New York, where Stewart was killed, police data shows murders are up nearly 20 percent so far this year compared to the same time period last year — from 16 murders to 19. Non-fatal shootings, however, are down 25 percent.

More crime stats for the East New York area are available on the NYPD's website. And stay up to date with all Brownsville and East New York neighborhood news by signing up to receive Patch's daily newsletters and news alerts in your inbox.