Police Announce Additional Charge Against Teen Involved In Fatal Coney Island Beating

The NYPD has added an attempted murder charge against the teen involved in a fatal beating in Coney Island last week, police announced Thursday.

Authorities initially charged 18-year-old Sarina Agard-Forde with felony and misdemeanor assault for an attack outside the Ocean Towers on West 24th Street Friday that put another teenager in a coma.

Prosecutors say Agard-Forde beat 17-year-old Ta’Jae Warner unconscious during an altercation that reportedly involved other teenagers. Warner had been walking her 11-year-old brother to the store at the time of the attack, according to CBS News.

Warner was declared brain dead soon after the assault and was taken off life support at Bellevue Hospital Tuesday night.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said additional charges against Agard-Forde will be considered by a grand jury. She is due in court Friday.

Warner’s mother told the Daily News that she would like the other teenagers involved in the attack to be brought to justice. Although police say Agard-Forde was the only one who struck Warner, a family friend told the Daily News a boy punched her so hard it “picked her up off her feet.”

The mother, Niece Warner, said he was still struggling to understand what happened.

“She had no enemies. She never really went outside,” she told the Daily News.

Prosecutors are waiting for the Medical Examiner’s office to provide an official cause of death before bringing more serious charges against Agard-Forde, the Daily News reports.

A GoFundMe account has been set up by Warner’s father to help cover funeral expenses.