11-Year-Old Girl Was Waiting Outside a Nail Salon When She Was Shot Dead — and Teen Is Convicted of Murdering Her

A New York City teen was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to shooting an 11-year-old girl in the stomach during a gang-related shootout in the Bronx. 

Matthew Godwin, who was 15 at the time of the shooting and is now 18, was sentenced on a second-degree murder charge for the death of 11-year-old Kyhara Tay, according to a news release from Darcel Clark, the Bronx District Attorney.

A police investigation found that on May 16, 2022, Godwin along with Omar Bojang, 21, were riding on an electric scooter driven by Bojang in the Bronx and were looking for a rival gang member. 

Bojang drove the scooter onto the sidewalk and spotted their 13-year-old male target.

Godwin, wielding a handgun, fired two shots from the scooter. One of the rounds struck Tay, who was waiting outside a nail salon for her friends. According to the district attorney, she died that night at a local hospital. 

Bojang pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on March 6 and is set to be sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of supervised release on May 14, the news release from the Bronx District Attorney’s Office 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,” Clark said in a statement. “Her death is a profound tragedy, especially considering the ages of everyone involved.” 

More than two years after Tay’s death, her mother says the pain her family feels from Tay’s absence has brought them anger, restless nights, anxiety and depression, amNewYork reported. 

“You denied her the opportunity to graduate, to fall in love, to live life – they took away all her dreams,” Tay’s mother said in court, per the outlet. 

Godwin’s attorney argued in court that he has been remorseful for the killing and has attempted to better his life, according to the local outlet.

“I am so sorry for what I have done and the pain I have caused you. I’m also very disappointed in myself and I take full responsibility,” Godwin said to Tay’s family. “I never intended to hurt your little girl. I’m so sorry I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me.”

In court, Bojang also expressed remorse for the killing, according to amNewYork. “I’m sincerely sorry. The loss and pain that I caused to families, unimaginable and relentless. I just want to pay my dues to society,” he said.

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The district attorney applauded Tay’s family for turning their “pain into purpose” by advocating against gun violence. 

“Today’s sentence is the culmination of justice, but this is not the final chapter of Kyhara’s life story,” Clark said in the news release. “Through their voice, Kyhara’s legacy will live on.”