Relatives of tiny Staten Island shooting victim Samyah Bailey confront alleged gunman in court

Staten Island AdvanceDamark King is led out of Stapleton Criminal Court after his arraignment in the shooting of Samyah Bailey.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rage-filled words and tears erupted from the benches of Stapleton Criminal Court today, as more than a dozen friends and family members of a toddler wounded in a spray of bullets listened to the charges read against the alleged teenaged shooter.
Damark King, 19, of Port Richmond, was ordered held without bail, accused of pumping his 9mm into the crowded courtyard of the Arlington Terrace Apartments in Mariners Harbor yesterday, striking little Samyah Bailey in the face.
King, of the 150 block of Nicholas Avenue — a parolee, after a March, 2007 conviction of first-degree robbery — had a history of feuds, bitterness and entangled romance with Samyah’s family members, family said.
After he and a friend had gotten into a physical fight with Samyah’s uncle and father earlier in the afternoon, King returned to the apartment courtyard full of bloodlust, with a loaded weapon in his hand, family said.

Suspect in shooting of Staten Island girl Samyah Bailey hears it from bystanders at arraignment Damark King, 19, of Port Richmond was arraigned in Stapleton Criminal Court. After the hearing, he got an earful from friends, family members and supporters of the victim, who shouted insults at him as he was led to a Corrections bus Watch video

"An eye for an eye, that’s what he should get," shouted Samyah’s cousin, Philecia Parker, from the back of the packed courtroom, as police in bulletproof vests stood behind the defendant, who was clad in a white shirt, with short braids, held together by a rubber band at the nape of his neck. "You took our baby’s eye, now your going to give the world yours."
Eighteen-month-old Samyah had her eye removed by doctors at Richmond University Medical Center, during one of what will likely be many operations, as a result of the violence. If the bullet’s path had been any different, the outcome might not have been as hopeful.
"She is laughing and playing and moving around and smiling," said her grandmother, Thomasina Bailey, who came to the courtroom from the West Brighton hospital, where she had sat vigil all night. "I thank the Lord. She’s a fighter. She made it."
Samyah was struck while sitting in her stroller the day after her mother and her father had been engaged to be married. Her 5-year-old sister, Jada Mahoney, still has not been told about how badly Samyah was hurt, family said.
"Everybody just ran," said Samyah’s uncle, Christian Bailey, who, along with her grandfather and other family members started to rush the tot to the hospital in their own car, before a passing police car got an ambulance for her. "We had to keep her awake, and get her to make noise."
He said everybody fled the courtyard for cover, when gunshots started to ricochet, he recalled. After the crowd cleared, they looked back to see Samyah, blood-covered, and strapped in her stroller.
Her father, Michael Bailey, had run home to change his blood-stained clothes before heading to the hospital, when police apprehended him on a previous warrant. Family said the person who had initiated the charges was planning on dropping them and that he would be released.
In another twist, police searching for the suspects arrived at a home on Christopher Street in Mariners Harbor. During their search for the men, law enforcement were said by a source to have discovered a stash of weapons hidden there. No connection has been drawn between the incident and what was reported to be a cache of weapons in the home, and no charges have been filed, according to a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.
King meanwhile faces single felony counts of first-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment, along with two felony counts of criminal weapon possession, said a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.
The assault charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison.