By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A 17-year-old purported youth gang member accused of shooting a Harlem grandmother has been indicted on charges related to the stray bullet hit, prosecutors revealed Thursday.
Antoine Maxwell, believed to be a member of Original Young Gangsters, missed his target and hit 66-year-old Virginia Valree in the leg while she was crossing the street at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue, police said.
Maxwell was charged with assault, weapon possession and reckless endangerment.
His indictment charges will remain sealed until Jan. 13, when he is scheduled to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court.
As DNAinfo reported exclusively this week, Harlem has been overrun with youth gangs — including the Original Young Gangsters — who residents complain terrorize the neighborhood.
Law enforcement officials tell DNAinfo the gangs are slightly different from larger organized gangs, like the Bloods or Crips, because they are spawned by kids from the same street who splinter off from one another and clash over turf down to the last corner.
Some of their criminal activity doesn't rise to the level of serious crime, and includes things like graffiti and loitering, police said.
The NYPD has tried installing "Sky Watch" surveillance towers around the neighborhood, but the violence continues.
