Officers were called to the Brooklyn Avenue apartment building just before 6 p.m. following reports of gunfire.
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The aunt, Latoya Price, whose 3-year-old son was in the room at the time of the shooting, told the Daily News Mercurius was like a daughter.
Mercurius’ aunt told NBC 4 NY that her 3-year-old son witnessed the shooting. A spokesman for the department would not say whether there was a particular suspect detectives were chasing.
Upon entering the apartment cops found Shemel Mercurius semi-conscious with multiple gunshot wounds to her body, police said.
The victim’s grandmother, 70-year-old Joan Mercurius, told the newspaper that she hasn’t yet been able to reach Shemel’s mom in Guyana to give her the devastating news. “We brought her here for a better life”.
Her father Dexter Mercurius, 38, told the New York Daily News that his daughter was “very nice, cool, person”. “This is so awful”.
A man and a woman went into Shemel’s apartment ahead of the incident Tuesday night and later took off, the TV station reported.
Family of Shemel Mecurius provided this image after she was fatally shot in East Flatbush on May 31, 2016.
City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, moved to tears at the vigil, reportedly said: “When I think of this young lady, I think of myself”.
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She was found lying on a toy auto and after she named her killer to police officers launched a manhunt for a suspect who was seen in the area armed with an assault rifle.
