Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that a fugitive who fled to Trinidad and Tobago after allegedly shooting a teenager in Canarsie in 2021 has been returned to Brooklyn to face charges in his death. Murder charges are also pending against the defendant’s girlfriend, who was arrested in 2022.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The brutal ambush and murder of 18-year-old Sharif Richards in Canarsie was a heinous act of violence that shattered a young life and devastated a family. By extraditing the alleged perpetrator from Trinidad and Tobago, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to ensuring that this kind of callous disregard for human life is met with the full force of justice.”
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The District Attorney identified the defendant as Anthony Regis-Ash, 24, formerly of Brooklyn. The defendant was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo on an indictment in which he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree attempted robbery, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was ordered held without bail and to return to court on February 7, 2025. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
A co-defendant, Amari Harvey, 24, of Brooklyn, was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport on January 5, 2022, as she tried to board a flight to Trinidad and Tobago. She is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and first-degree attempted robbery and is being held on $1million cash bail or $2 million bond.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on September 29, 2021, in the vicinity of Foster Avenue and East 80th Street, in Canarsie, Brooklyn, at approximately 10:40 p.m., NYPD officers responded to 911 calls of a man shot and found the victim, Sharif Richards, next to his crashed motor vehicle with a gunshot wound to his chest. He subsequently died of the gunshot wound.
Furthermore, according to the investigation, police conducted an extensive video canvass of cameras in the area to track the victim’s movements before the shooting, which led to the discovery of the defendant’s 2015 Nissan on East 78th Street between Farragut Road and Glenwood Road, with a man and a woman in the vehicle. The woman exits the vehicle and walks down the block and allegedly meets up with Richards, who is in his 2007 Infiniti.
The video also allegedly shows the woman, later determined to be co-defendant Amari Harvey, gets into the vehicle and a minute later the defendant, wearing a hoodie and a mask, is seen leaning into Richards vehicle in an alleged attempt to rob him. He allegedly then shoots Richards in the chest and Richards drives off and crashes a few blocks away. The woman exits the vehicle and leaves the scene with the defendant.
As part of the investigation, phone records and text messages were reviewed and revealed prior communications between Richards and the woman, as well as Richards and the defendant.
The District Attorney thanked our law enforcement partners who made this international fugitive apprehension possible, including the New York City Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the United States Department of Justice, the State Department, and the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Joseph Mancino and Michael Diamond, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, Homicide Bureau Chief.
