NYC teen rapper charged with shooting NYPD cop walking free on bond

A 16-year-old, up-and-coming rapper charged with shooting an NYPD cop in the Bronx walked free on bond Thursday — and cops are fuming over it.

Camrin Williams, who is also known by the rap name C Blu, posted his $250,000 bond after being locked up at a Brooklyn juvenile facility on gun and assault charges in the shooting of a 27-year-old cop in Belmont.

“If anybody wants to know why we have a crisis of violence in this city, or why we’re about to bury two hero police officers, look no further than this disgraceful bail release,” NYPD Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said in a statement.

“This individual chose to carry illegal guns twice,” Lynch said. “He chose to fight with and shoot a New York City police officer. There’s no reason to believe he won’t do the exact same thing when he’s out on the street tonight.

“Shame on Judge Denis Boyle for allowing this to happen,” he said. “The people of the Bronx won’t be safe as long as he’s on the bench.”

Boyle, a Bronx Supreme Court justice, has come under fire in the past amid claims that he’s overly lenient, particularly with young defendants. 

In a statement Thursday, state court officials said that anger is misdirected.

“The ire that the PBA president is projecting on the judge, who is following the law, should be directed at the individuals who promulgate those laws,” Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said in an email. 

NYPD officer Kaseem Pennan was shot while Williams got into it with police. 

State lawmakers have also come under fire after passing bail reform measures that bar judges from setting bail on misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.

Williams was eligible for bail in his case. 

He walked out of the Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn shortly before 7 p.m. but declined to comment to a reporter from The Post.

But in a statement, his attorney, Dawn Florio, said her client will focus on his music.

“Camrin has been released and will be back to his regular productive life of focusing on schoolwork and his music career,” Florio said. 

Police said Williams was arrested after cops from the 48th Precinct responded to reports of an unruly crowd at Lorillard Place near East 187th Street on Jan. 18.

Williams refused to take his hands out of his pockets and got into a scuffle with cops.

During the struggle, a gun he was holding went off, with a single bullet striking and wounding NYPD officer Kaseem Pennant and hitting the teenager in the groin.

Williams already had a 2020 gun possession arrest on his record and was placed on probation as a juvenile in the case just one month earlier. 

Bronx prosecutors asked that the teen be held without bail at his arraignment last week, but Boyle set bond at $250,000.

Williams reportedly planned to use an advance on his contract with Interscope Records to post the $15,000 in cash needed to secure the bond.

FGB Bail Project

 About this campaign

The Bail Project combats mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system—one person at a time. Help FGB & The Bail Project restore the presumption of innocence, reunite families, and challenge a system that criminalizes race and poverty. We’re on a mission to end cash bail and create a more just, equitable, and humane pretrial system.

About The Bail Project

The Bail Project is a national nonprofit organization that combats mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system—one person at a time.

We believe that ending cash bail is one of the defining civil rights and racial justice issues of our day. Through our efforts, we seek to transform pretrial justice for future generations, bringing us one step closer to ending mass incarceration and racial and economic disparities in the U.S. criminal legal system and ensuring that courts uphold the presumption of innocence by not punishing people before they have a trial.

The seed for The Bail Project was planted over 10 years ago when The Bronx Freedom Fund, the first-of-its-kind nonprofit, revolving bail fund in the country, launched in New York City. Since then, The Bronx Freedom Fund has grown out of a determination to combat mass incarceration and racial disparities at the front end of the system. Because bail is returned at the end of a case, we are able to build a sustainable revolving fund where philanthropic dollars can be used several times per year, maximizing the impact of every contribution.

As one of the oldest revolving community bail funds and a leader in the field, The Bronx Freedom Fund has provided technical assistance and step-by-step guides to help other funds spring up across the country. Over the years, our model has been strengthened by our close collaboration with local community partners, stakeholders, and public defenders. Beyond the human impact of The Bronx Freedom Fund, stories and data from our work in the Bronx have been instrumental in showing that unaffordable cash bail is not only unjust, but also unnecessary.

In 2018, with the support of The Audacious Project at TED, we got the opportunity to take the lessons and expertise we developed in the Bronx and scale the revolving bail fund model to a national level with the goal of providing bail assistance on an unprecedented scale while working with community partners toward meaningful and long-lasting reforms. The Bail Project is our dream to reimagine a more just and equitable pretrial system, one that is truly grounded in the presumption of innocence for all, regardless of race, economic status, or accusation.