A shattered Bronx family is making funeral arrangements after a 16-year-old girl was fatally struck by a stray bullet while riding her scooter near her home Monday night.
“They took her away from us. They took her away from me,” the grieving grandmother of teen Evette Jeffrey told The Post Tuesday.
“We decided to have her cremated just so the family can have something,” said the woman, asking to be identified as “grandma.”
“The mom doesn’t want her in the cemetery. The family doesn’t want it.”
The bubbly teen was riding her scooter after school when a brawl between a group of teens erupted into gunfire outside a Morrisania schoolyard shortly after 5 p.m., NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at the scene.
The girl was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
“It’s so much,” her grandmother said through tears. “I still have to go to school. They probably know because it was released last night. I still have to go. I know her friends. They are devastated.”
She urged the gunman to turn himself in.
Law enforcement sources said a 14-year-old person of interest was questioned by police Monday night, but no charges have been filed.
Tisch said the violence broke out after the gun-toting teen was slugged by another boy outside 800 Home Street, which houses three schools – Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health and Science and Science Charter School, Bronx Latin and Bronx Career and College Preparatory High School.
The teen who was punched then chased the group and opened fire, striking Evette, the commissioner said.
“She’s forever 16.” the girl’s grandmother said. “That’s it.”
Read the full article here
