A shattered grandmother has issued a tough message to a 14-year-old boy who gunned down her innocent teenage granddaughter while she was riding a scooter.
Evette Jeffrey, 16, was shot in the head when she got caught in the crosshairs of gang violence outside Bronx Latin School in New York on Monday.
Her accused killer is a 14-year-old boy who was known to police and reportedly had links to a gang. According to Mayor Eric Adams, the troubled teen had once even pulled a gun on his own mom.
It’s understood the boy had been punched and knocked to the ground when an unidentified individual slipped him a pistol.
He fired three shots, apparently indiscriminately, into a crowd, fatally shooting Evette, who was innocently nearby.
Evette’s grieving grandmother spoke to ABC after the tragedy, placing blame at the feet of the teenager’s family.
‘I don’t forgive you,’ she said in a message directly to the boy.
‘I hold your family responsible. Because they should’ve been watching you. Whoever handed it to you or you had it, I will never forgive you. I don’t care.
‘They can say I’m sorry a million times, I will never forgive any of you. Any of you.’
And speaking to the New York Post, she added: ‘They took her away from us. They took her away from me.’
Evette had dreams of becoming a medical technician and going to college, her family said.
Charges are pending against the teenage boy.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said ‘from the video we saw of that incident, it appears that our shooter was actually the winner of that fight.
‘The altercation then carried out onto the walkway behind the school, where another individual ran up and punched the shooter. That person, we believe, was the intended target.’
Sources said police believe a feud between warring street gangs sparked the tragedy.
According to the publication, the two gangs involved in the melee which led to the shooting were Forest Over Everything and Kreep On Davidson – which is based at the Davidson Houses public housing complex nearby.
It is not clear which gang the alleged shooter was affiliated with.
Mayor Adams issued a heart-wrenching statement on X on Monday night, lamenting ‘babies killing babies.’
‘Tonight, a 14-year-old suspect shot and killed a 16-year-old girl. Babies killing babies. It’s an unimaginable tragedy, and I am praying for the victim’s family.
‘I don’t even know what to say when a shooting like this occurs. Us parents must continue to do everything in our power to make sure our kids cannot access guns.
‘The girl was not the intended target… This young man who did the shooting, the person of interest, threatened his mother with a gun. She was afraid of him.’
Later, he added: ‘It is heartbreaking and maddening that gang violence has once again cut short the lives of two young New Yorkers — a beautiful girl with so much life ahead of her and a 14-year-old suspect who could have chosen the right path.’
Evette’s family have chosen to cremate her so they can carry a piece of her with them forever.
‘The mom doesn’t want her in the cemetery. The family doesn’t want it,’ her grandma said.