Shattered grandmother of girl fatally struck by stray bullet reveals heartbreaking funeral decision: ‘She's forever 16'
A 14-year-old suspect was busted in a tragic gang-related stray-bullet shooting of a 16-year-old Bronx girl Tuesday — as her family made the heartbreaking decision to cremate her, so they can always remember her.
'We decided to have her cremated just so the family can have something,' the grieving grandmother of teen Evette Jeffrey told The Post Tuesday.
'The mom doesn't want her in the cemetery. The family doesn't want it.'
'They took her away from us. They took her away from me,' said the woman, asking only to be identified as 'grandma.'
Just minutes after she spoke, a US Marshals task force picked up the suspected teen gunman near 952 Rev. James A. Polite Avenue, law enforcement sources told The Post.
The teen, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was being held at the 42nd Precinct station late Tuesday and is facing murder charges, the sources said.
The sources said the arrest may have been brokered by his own relatives — and said cops believe the shooting was sparked by a feud between street gangs.
The beef was between the Forest Over Everything crew and an upstart gang calling itself Kreep On Davidson, based at the Davidson Houses public housing complex, the sources said.
It is unclear which crew the alleged shooter belonged to.
The accused killer allegedly had a scuffle with the rival gangbangers earlier in the day, which sparked the deadly encounter that left the teen girl dead hours later.
Mayor Eric Adams said on X Monday night that the out-of-control 14-year-old suspect had even pulled a gun on his own mom.
'It is heartbreaking and maddening that gang violence has once again cut short the lives of two young New Yorkers,' Adams said in a separate post on Tuesday. 'A beautiful girl with so much life ahead of her and a 14-year-old suspect who could have chosen the right path.'
Relatives said Evette was celebrating her one-year anniversary with her also-16-year-old boyfriend after school on Monday, and the young couple had been on a date at a Chinese buffet when they headed home and stopped at the Bronx Latin school's playground.
Evette was celebrating her one-year anniversary with her also-16-year-old boyfriend after school on Monday, and the young couple had been on a date at a Chinese buffet when they headed home and stopped at the Bronx Latin school's playground.
'She was gonna go eat and then they'll be back, and I said, 'Let me know when you get there,'' her grandmother said. 'This was right after school, maybe 3 o'clock or 3:15 p.m.'
Shortly after 5 p.m., Evette was riding her scooter when a brawl between a group of teens erupted into gunfire outside the Morrisania schoolyard, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at the scene Monday night.
'I was upstairs and I heard three shots, because my window faces that way … not knowing it was her,' the grandmother said. 'You could tell they were gunshots. I heard sirens, but it didn't sound close, so I tried to reach her.
'She wasn't connected so I decided to come down and as I was getting ready to leave, that's when my neighbors came and told me,' she said. 'My neighbors came banging on the door, and I opened the door, and they said she got shot in the head. That was it.'
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.'
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 died here,' her grandma said. 'They were just going to revive her, but she died here.'
Her family said she was her mother's only child.
'She's forever 16,' the girl's grandmother said. 'That's it.'
The senseless shooting, allegedly at the hands of a baby-faced thug, sparked outrage from relatives and neighbors.
'This is crazy. This is a kid who had no business with a gun,' Evette's aunt said. 'He had a gun, he was shooting at someone, and he is only 14. They don't care who they hurt. They don't care who they kill.
'Yes, I am angry because of him, my niece is no longer here, and this is not right,' she added. 'Kids killing kids.'
One local shook his head over the tragedy.
'What happened to the days when you fight with your fists?' he asked. 'Where are they getting these guns from at such a tender age?
'Who are their role models, gangbangers? Wrong direction.'
A Bronx mom whose teen daughter was friends with the slain girl blamed Adams and city officials for the fatal tragedy.
'The mayor is trash,' she said. 'I grew up with stuff like this all the time, but it's progressing, it's amplifying. They are getting younger and younger, kids killing kids. It's very disappointing.'
Meanwhile, Evette's grandmother had an angry message for the alleged teen gunman who shattered her family.
'I don't forgive you,' she sobbed. 'I hold your family responsible because they should be watching you. Whoever handed you [the gun] or had it, I will never forgive you.
'They could say I'm sorry a million times, and I'll never forgive any of you.'
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