JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman wanted in connection with an execution-style killing in New York City was taken into custody Monday in Jacksonville.
New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said the suspect was arrested in Jacksonville, nearly 1,000 miles away from the crime scene.
“You can run, but the long arm of the law will find you,” Shea posted on Twitter.
The suspect was identified by U.S. Marshals as 42-year-old Claudia Banton, who was arrested during a traffic stop on Main Street, north of the Trout River Bridge. They said she was a passenger in the vehicle. A spokesperson with the U.S. Marshals told News4Jax that the driver who was in the car with Banton was not arrested.
They said the Marshals’ New York Task Force contacted the Florida Caribbean Regional Task Force on information that Banton might be down in the Jacksonville area and they put some surveillance on her and observed her getting into the car. From there, they followed and stopped them.
Banton had an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon. Judge John Moran asked Banton if she wanted to be returned to New York, and Banton replied, “Yes.”
“We’ll notify authorities in New York you’re now available to be picked up,” Moran said in response.
Banton will be held in the Duval County jail while awaiting extradition to New York.
According to a report from the Associated Press, the shooting happened on a sidewalk in a Brooklyn neighborhood in early August. Surveillance video of the shooting shows a woman in black leggings getting out of her car while holding a gun, casually walking up to Delia Johnson and shooting her in the head at point-blank range while she talks with a group of people in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
Moments after the shooting, the woman walks back to a car and speeds off. Johnson died at a hospital.
Family members believe that Johnson was lured to the spot where she was killed. She had been at a funeral earlier that day and they believe the suspected shooter was also there.
Johnson was a single mother with a 17-year-old daughter. Her family said she had no enemies that they know of.
“My sister did not deserve that,” Johnson’s youngest sister told CBS2.
Johnson’s mother, Delia Berry told News 12: “This was senseless.”
In a GoFundMe posted by Johnson’s loved one’s, the family said:
“We are devastated at the loss of our beloved Delia, who was taken from us on the evening of August 4, 2021, in a senseless act of violence. Delia was brutally executed in broad daylight, in a manner that has gained national attention. Delia was a loving mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and up and coming entrepreneur. Our loss is immense.”