Police said 58-year-old Michael Foster was arrested Wednesday evening and charged with murder, manslaughter and 10 counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Investigators have not disclosed the relationship, if any, between Foster and the victim.
The victim, identified as Julia Anderson, was shot twice in the chest while inside her Jeep Grand Cherokee on Murdock Avenue.
Shots were fired through the passenger-side window, striking Anderson, who police said was believed to be in the driver's seat.
Two shell casings were recovered at the scene. Anderson was pronounced dead at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi.
Police have not released additional details about what led to the shooting.
Family members shared a photo of the victim and described her as a hardworking woman who worked with people with disabilities.
"My younger daughter came and she told me and my heart felt like it was going to come out," said the victim's mother, Beverly Patterson.
Patterson said the 39-year-old had just finished work and was headed home, less than a mile away in Mount Vernon.
"She usually comes home at 12 in the night, and usually when she comes home, I hear some kind of little noise, that's how I know she's home. But then I was like wondering what happened," Patterson said.
The victim's sister was too distraught to speak on camera, but said Anderson had just wrapped up a night shift as a caregiver at a group home for developmentally disabled adults in the Wakefield section of the Bronx.
Friends and coworkers remembered Anderson as a kind and caring person.
"I felt so much for that poor girl, you don't know, I think I'll have a heart attack," said the victim's neighbor and coworker, George Henriques.
Loved ones said Anderson was just one month away from her 40th birthday.
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