Holly MatkinNew York, NY – The former boyfriend of the 20-year-old woman who was fatally shot in the head at point-blank range while pushing her three-month-old baby in a stroller in Manhattan has been arrested.
“I’m innocent,” Isaac Argro proclaimed as he was being escorted into Manhattan Criminal Court the night of July 1, according to WPIX.
Lisa Desort, the mother of 20-year-old Azsia Johnson, said she knew Argro was responsible for her daughter’s brutal murder as soon as she learned about what occurred.
“He knows what he did; he’s connected to it in every way,” Desort told WPIX. “I don’t care what he has to say. When we go through the court proceedings, I’m 1000% positive he will be proven guilty. What he says doesn’t matter to me.”
Desort said Johnson was very open with her about how much she feared her baby’s 22-year-old father.
“Every time she texted me and said, ‘Mommy, he’s threatening me,’ I’m on the phone [to police],” she told WPIX.
Desort claimed police said the threats didn’t reach the threshold of being illegal.
“[Police said] ‘it’s not harassment. He’s just mad,’” she said, according to WPIX. “[I said] no, he’s gonna kill my daughter,’ and he killed my daughter. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
Police said the young mother was walking on East 95th Street near Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side at approximately 8:30 p.m. on June 29 when a gunman dressed all in black walked up behind her and shot her in her right temple, CNN reported.
The bullet traveled through her head and lodged into a nearby parked car, according to investigators.
Sources said the gunman fled on foot down East 95th Street after the shooting, WNBC reported.
The woman was rushed to Metropolitan Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to The New York Times.
Her baby was not injured in the attack, police said.
Police said Johnson was temporarily living in a women’s shelter on East 104th Street, several blocks away from where she was murdered, CNN reported.
She also has a second child who was not with her at the time of the shooting, according to investigators.
My heart breaks for young mother, Azsia Johnson who had her life stolen last night. Praying for her two babies. pic.twitter.com/zr31Eios9M
— Steve Harrington's Contract Negotiator (@CocoaMochaCrml) June 30, 2022
The Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked Argro down and arrested him two days after the attack, according to WPIX.
He has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree murder in connection with the killing, WNYW reported.
Desort said Argro had threatened to kill her, Johnson, and Johnson’s sister in the past, FOX News reported.
“The city was supposed to be protecting her,” she said. “This is a domestic violence case from January. We called the precinct… we called numerous times for her protection. No one protected my daughter, and now she’s dead.”
Argro has a lengthy criminal history and had also been accused of assaulting Johnson while she was pregnant, FOX News reported.
Prosecutors characterized Johnson’s death as a “premeditated execution,” and said Argro “persuaded” Johnson to meet with him “under the guise” that he wanted to give her items for their three-month-old baby girl, according to the New York Post.
After allegedly killing he mother of his child, he left his baby crying in the stroller as he ran away, then called Johnson’s family to ask where his daughter was, prosecutors alleged.
He allegedly made a threat during the call that one of them was “next,” according to prosecutors.
The judge ordered that he be held without bail pending another court hearing scheduled for July 7.
He faces 25 years to life in prison if he is convicted, the New York Post reported.
