Harlem smoke-shop suspect shot at cops who returned fire 31 times in 2021 — but judge lowered his bail
The accused Harlem smoke-shop gunman was previously arrested for shooting at cops, but a judge reduced his bail and he was eventually released — free to allegedly kill two people hours apart this past weekend.
Messiah Nantwi, a 21-year-old alleged gang member, was first arrested Feb. 21, 2021, when he pulled a .22-caliber handgun on three cops who tried to bust him for spray-painting graffiti in the Bronx, according to the NYPD and Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Nantwi allegedly shot at the police, who fired back 31 times and struck him with several rounds.
He was seriously wounded — but after he recovered, authorities charged him with three counts of attempted murder on a police officer, cops said.
Records show he was held without bail — until Acting Bronx Supreme Court Justice David L. Lewis ordered him held on $500,000 bail at his March arraignment.
The district attorney objected, but the judge moved forward anyway.
Lewis then further reduced Nantwi’s bail to $300,000 later on, once more over prosecutors’ objections.
Nantwi’s family ended up posting the required 10%, or $30,000, to free the allegedly trigger-happy teenager in mid-2021.
His trial in the case is still pending.
Then Tuesday, cops arrested Nantwi once more — but this time for a pair of killings, including Sunday’s bone-chilling, caught-on-camera execution in which the now-21-year-old allegedly put two rounds through Brandon Brunson, a 36-year-old Brooklynite, during a dispute at a Harlem smoke shop.
Cops also say Nantwi fatally shot Jaylen Duncan, 19, hours earlier, on Saturday afternoon, about a half-mile away on Madison Avenue and East 132nd Street.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said Tuesday that Nantwi targeted Duncan in a gangland assassination.
Duncan belonged to a rival gang, the chief said.
Police do not believe that Nantwi knew Brunson before his smoke-shop slaying.
Essig said Nantwi is a reputed member of Harlem’s OTN Goodfellas gang, which has been known to run ruthlessly roughshod over the neighborhood while trafficking guns.
Nantwi has been charged with murder in both cases.
A rep for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office declined to comment Tuesday when asked about the judge’s decision to lower Nantwi’s bail in the 2021 case.
“We had made our objections in court,” the representive said.
Some law-enforcement sources were more frank in their assessment of the situation.
“Finally took someone to die to get this guy off the street,” a source said.
A Bronx cop familiar with the 2021 shooting added, “If he would have been kept in jail for shooting at cops, these two people would be alive today.
“There is enough blame to go around. Lenient judges and reduced bail equal innocent people getting killed.”
Nantwi allegedly killed Brunson in the smoke shop after the pair had words as they stood near the store counter, according to cops and surveillance camera footage obtained by The Post.
As Brunson turned and went to leave, Nantwi pulled a handgun and shot him once in the back of the head, cops said.
Brunson collapsed but was still alive, the footage showed. Nantwi then walked toward him, pointed the pistol and put one more bullet in his back, police said. Then he casually left the store.
Brunson was pronounced dead at Harlem Hospital.
Cops also say Nantwi fatally shot Duncan, who was rushed to Harlem Hospital but declared him dead.
Police recognized Nantwi from video and linked shell casings to both killings, cops said.
Police arrested Nantwi when they saw him riding a CitiBike during a video canvas on 115th Street and Lenox Avenue on Monday night, Essig said.
Close by, they found the handgun allegedly used in both murders — he’d either dropped or tossed it, the chief said.
