Crime & Safety

Woman Wanted For Murder Of Brooklyn Mom Found In Florida: NYPD

Claudia Banton had been on the loose since August, when police say she walked up and shot Delia Johnson on a crowded Crown Heights street.

Claudia Banton was arrested this week for the killing of Delia Johnson.
Claudia Banton was arrested this week for the killing of Delia Johnson. (NYPD.)

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A woman accused of fatally shooting a Brooklyn mom on a crowded Crown Heights street earlier this year has been caught in Florida, according to police.

Claudia Banton, 42, was found and arrested Monday by police in Jacksonville, four months after the execution-like murder of Delia Johnson on Franklin Avenue, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and reports.

Johnson, who lived just a few blocks from where she was killed, was found with a gunshot wound in her head and leg on Aug. 4. She was pronounced dead at Interfaith Hospital.

Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Surveillance video later released by police shows a woman get out of a car and walk up to Johnson while she stands talking with a group near a Franklin Avenue stoop. It is cut right as the woman raises a gun to Johnson's head.

Police sources told the New York Post that Banton will be extradited to New York.

Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Also known by two aliases, Claudia Williams and Keisha Brown, she has four prior arrests, including for kidnapping and grand larceny, police sources told the outlet.

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