The Harlem gangbanger charged with nearly gunning down two young siblings while shooting at a rival in the Bronx ignored reporters’ questions Friday as he was hauled out of a police precinct.
Hours later, Lopez, 27, appeared virtually for his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court — where Judge Wanda Negron ordered him held behind bars.
“The court finds that the least restrictive condition that will reasonably reassure that the defendant returns to court is remand,” she said.
Michael Lopez — wearing a white tank top tucked into his underwear, gym shorts and flip-flops with socks — stared straight ahead as reporters yelled questions before he was put into the back of a police cruiser at the NYPD’s 44th Precinct.
Lopez is accused of opening fire on Sheridan Avenue in broad daylight June 17 — targeting a rival gang member who trampled a 13-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother as he tried to avoid the bullets.
The shocking act of gunplay was captured on video.
Miraculously, neither child was injured.
The video shows Lopez firing numerous times at a 24-year-old man as he stumbles over the stunned siblings, police said.
Lopez faces charges of attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal use of a firearm, reckless endangerment and attempted reckless endangerment, police said.
He was released from prison in 2017 on an attempted assault conviction and served two years on parole, state records show. His supervised release was set to end in 2023, according to the records.
Lopez also was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in 2011 for pulling a gun on someone in Harlem, according to records and sources.
Sources said that Lopez was arrested on Jan. 17, 2020, for a knifepoint robbery. The details of that case weren’t immediately clear.
Assistant District Attorney Janene Carter said in court that Lopez has three prior felony convictions, for which he is on parole, as well as two pending cases, including “a violent felony offense, robbery in the first degree and a misdemeanor.”
She also noted that Lopez had previously failed to appear in court on two recent occasions.
“Because that case is a violent felony that he is out on, and he has committed this crime which is also a violent felony there is mandatory sentencing required in these cases. If convicted of these two offenses then the defendant faces up to 50 years in jail,” Carter said, requesting that Lopez be remanded.
Defense attorney Laurence Gurwitch said his client denied the charges as he asked for the judge to set bail, to no avail.
Lopez is due back in court on Wednesday morning.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino