Cops Examine Hate Crime Motive In Star H.S. Basketball Player's Murder

Two Harlem men arrested in South Carolina were indicted in Manhattan yesterday in the shooting death of high school basketball star Tayshana "Chicken" Murphy. And the already curious case of apparent gang-related violence has now gained a possible hate crime angle.

Early on September 11, Tyshawn Brockington, 21, and Robert Cartagena, 20, allegedly shot Murphy three times in the Grant Houses building where she lived. According to the criminal complaints before she was killed Murphy was heard calling out "I am not with them," to which one of the shooters responded "I don't give a fuck."

The cause of the shooting has been murky since it occurred. Initially thought to be a case of mistaken identity later reports claimed the shooting was retaliation for a previous assault involving Murphy's brother. Now the NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is reportedly involved in the case because anti-gay graffiti was found in Murphy's building and, according to NY1's sources, Murphy was a lesbian.

Brockington and Cartagena will be formally arraigned on October 18 and are expected to plead not guilty. A third suspect, 24-year-old Terique Collins, has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon which he is said to have provided to the alleged killers.