Crown Heights Drug Dealer Who Shot Pregnant Bystander Gets 18 Yrs: DOJ

BROOKLYN, NY — A Crown Heights drug dealer who shot an innocent pregnant woman in the head will spend almost two decades in prison, according to prosecutors.

Steven Bynum, 40, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years for the 2017 shooting, which unfolded in East New York after a fight over drugs at the Kingsborough Houses, prosectors said.

The pregnant woman — who survived but is now severely disabled — was hit by a bullet when Bynum fired into a group of people who were standing with one of his rivals, prosecutors said.

“The defendant’s vile actions and disregard for human life left a mother paralyzed and threatened the life of her unborn child," said John B. Devito, a special agent-in-charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "This defendant will no longer be able to commit willful acts of violence and prey upon the citizens we have sworn to protect.”

Tuesday's sentencing comes two years after Bynum pleaded guilty to the federal shooting charges.

The revenge plot stemmed from a dispute with the rival dealer earlier that year.

Bynum had stolen three ounces of heroin and an ounce of cocaine from the other dealer and sold them in Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights, authorities said. When the rival found out, he demanded money and assaulted Bynum when he refused, officials said.

To get back at him, Bynum drove a rental car one day in September to Dean Street in East New York, where the rival was standing with a group of people, including the pregnant woman, prosecutors said.

Bynum circled the block before opening fire into the crowd, missing the rival dealer but hitting the woman twice in the head, prosecutors said.

The shooting left the woman — despite multiple surgeries and two months in the hospital — permanently paralyzed on her right side and with cognitive and speaking impediments, officials said. Her baby was born two months prematurely but survived.