UPDATED: Friday, June 3, 11:50 AM EST
A 24-year-old man, with half of a dozen prior arrests, surrendered to police Thursday in the cold-blooded killing of teenaged babysitter, reports the New York Daily News.
The man, Taariq Stephens, was charged with murder and weapon possession late Thursday in the death of Shemel Murcurius,16. He surrendered at the 67th Precinct stationhouse in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, the report says:
A video camera caught the gunman forcing his way inside the home after the teen initially rebuffed his efforts, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
The motive in the killing remained unclear, and Boyce said initial reports that the killer was Shemel’s boyfriend proved inaccurate.
“From what we can read of the texts, it is not a romantic relationship,” Boyce said. “There’s a lot more to go in this case . . . to figure out.”
SOURCE: The New York Daily News
The slain 16-year-old New York City girl fatally shot by a gunman who forced his way into the home where she was babysitting her nephew, reportedly identified the killer before taking her last breath, reports the New York Daily News.
Shemel Mercurius “tried to keep the gun-toting man and a female companion from joining her and 3-year-old Josiah inside the apartment,” a police source who insisted on anonymity told the News. But the man talked his way inside anyway, the report says.
Police describe her boyfriend as “a person of interest” in the shooting. The high school student was shot twice — once in each bicep — with one of the bullets punching through her arm and into her chest, writes the News:
A barely conscious Shemel Mercurius, lying on a toy car in her family’s Brooklyn apartment, died from a gunshot wound shortly after fingering her killer, the sources said.
Cops withheld the suspect’s name as a video surfaced showing a man armed with an assault rifle coercing his way inside the home where the 16-year-old was babysitting her nephew.
The manhunt for the fugitive suspect continued for a second day, with cops saying the rifle-toting man wore a black hoodie and red sweatpants with black stripes.
Shemel died Tuesday night at Kings County Hospital.
SOURCE: New York Daily News | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty | VIDEO CREDIT: New York Daily News
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