− manhunt launched for boyfriend
A 16-year-old girl was shot dead by her boyfriend while babysitting her cousin at their Brooklyn, New York
Dead: Shemel Mercurius
apartment on Tuesday evening.
Dead is Shemel Mercurius who moved to the United States four years ago and stayed at the family’s East Flatbush apartment.
The teen was watching over her three-year-old cousin when gunfire rang out, hitting her several times.
Persons who heard the gunshots rushed to the scene only to find the teenager in a semi-conscious state. She was picked up and rushed to the Kings County Hospital where she died while receiving medical attention. The three-year-old was unharmed, Police stated.
Police also confirmed that the teenager was shot by her 19-year-old boyfriend to the back and leg. The Police have since launched a manhunt for the teenage boyfriend.
However, new information revealed that a man armed with an assault rifle was seen barging into the Brooklyn apartment building where the teenager was killed.
Further, reports stated that the now dead teenager tried to keep the gun-toting man and a female companion from entering the apartment where she was babysitting her todder cousin.
Surveillance footage confirmed that the armed man was trying to force his way into the apartment around 18:00h on Tuesday. Based on camera footage, Mercurius opened the door and let him and the woman in.
However, the pair was seen on video fleeing the sixth-floor apartment after Mercurius was fatally wounded. Police stated that dead girl’s boyfriend was “a person of interest” in the shooting.