BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON IN KILLING OF 11-YEAR-OLD KYHARA TAY IN 2022

Defendant Pleaded Guilty to Fatal Shooting of Girl; He Had Fired at 13-Year-Old Boy 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for second-degree Murder in the fatal shooting of 11-year-old innocent bystander Kyhara Tay in May 2022. 

District Attorney Clark said, “Kyhara never had the chance to grow up. She was an innocent 11-year-old girl who was killed when the defendant, 15 years old at the time, started shooting at a 13-year-old boy. Her death is a profound tragedy, especially considering the ages of everyone involved. Today’s sentence is the culmination of justice, but this is not the final chapter of Kyhara’s life story. Her family turned their pain into purpose by speaking out against gun violence. Through their voice, Kyhara’s legacy will live on.” 

District Attorney Clark said defendant Matthew Godwin, 18, of Bronx Park South was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for second-degree Murder by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Joseph McCormack. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge on March 6, 2025.  

According to the investigation, at 4:48 p.m., on May 16, 2022, Godwin, along with Omar Bojang, 21, were riding on a motorized scooter driven by Bojang on Westchester Avenue in Longwood, looking for a rival gang member. Bojang drove the scooter onto the sidewalk and upon seeing the 13-year-old target, Godwin fired two shots from a handgun from the back of the scooter. One of the rounds struck Kyhara Tay, 11, in the stomach as she was waiting for her friends outside a nail salon on Westchester Avenue and Fox Street. She died that night at a hospital.

Bojang pleaded guilty to first-degree Manslaughter on March 6, 2025, and will be sentenced to 15 years in prison and 5 years post-release supervision on May 14, 2025.

District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Naser Dzaferovic of the 41st Precinct Squad, NYPD Detective Peter Quatrale of the Gun Violence Suppression Division, and NYPD Detective Robert Cintron of Bronx Homicide for their assistance with the investigation.