Grandmother says 'I will never forgive you' to gunman who killed 16-year-old Bronx girl
MORRISANIA, The Bronx (WABC) -- A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the death of a 16-year-old innocent bystander who was shot in the head on Monday in the Bronx.
The teen was charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
It started as what police describe as an old-school, school-yard fist fight.
The problem was, it was a fight between two rival gang members, and someone brought a gun.
The innocent 16-year-old was caught in the crossfire as shots rang out.
Evette Jeffrey was shot in the head while on a scooter and died outside Bronx Latin School on Monday in the Morrisania section around 5 p.m.
"One of my neighbors knocked on the door. They was banging on the door. And we just ran and when I got there she was on the stretcher and they were pumping her chest. And I knew she was gone. I was just screaming, she's dead," Jeffrey's grandmother told Eyewitness News.
It is an unimaginable pain that will bring a mother to her knees.
Jeffrey's mother said the teen was smiling Monday afternoon, before she rode her scooter into the school yard.
"She was always laughing. She couldn't wait to get to college," said Jeffrey's mother Kristen Abad.
Her grandmother says she just wanted to be friends with everyone.
Her family, though, is not ready for peace.
"No. I don't forgive you. I hold your family responsible. Because they should've been watching you. Whoever handed it to you or you had it, I will never forgive you. I don't care. They can say I'm sorry a million times, I will never forgive any of you. Any of you," Jeffrey's grandmothers said.
Investigators say the 14-year-old boy who had been punched and knocked to the ground was slipped a pistol by someone and then allegedly fired three shots into a crowd.
The fight was captured by school security cameras.
"From the video that we saw of that incident, it appears that our shooter was actually the winner of that fight. The altercation then carried out onto the walkway behind the school, where another individual ran up and punched the shooter. That person, we believe, was the intended target," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Detectives would track down their suspect Tuesday morning.
"As the perpetrator attempted to enter a taxi, he realized the presence of police and tried to flee the scene," Kenny said. "But our officers moved in quickly and apprehended him without further incident."
Police said the 14-year-old has been arrested before.
Police may be looking to make more arrests as they continue to investigate how the alleged young shooter got his hands on the gun.
The neighborhood is no stranger to youth gun violence.
Less than two months ago, just three blocks away, teenagers fired shots at each other and struck a school bus carrying young special needs students.
Just a block away in 2009, a 15-year-old was critically injured after being struck in the head by a 16-year-old shooter.
"A 16-year-old is dead at the hands of a 14-year-old with a gun," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "These are babies killing babies and it has to stop."
Detectives with the 42nd precinct have had a busy 24 hours. At around 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday, more gunfire broke out, just blocks from their stationhouse. Some of the responding officers ran over.
At the scene, they found several shell casings right in front of Boriqua College, where two suspected gunmen had missed their targets, and instead hit an innocent 20-year-old man driving by in a car. The shattered glass hit his 11-year-old passenger.
Both victims are recovering. Police are questioning one person of interest.
"Too much delinquency. And nobody puts a stop to it. It's been years," said Perla Castro, a mother who heard the shooting.
So far in 2025, there have been 28 victims and 17 shooters, all under the age of 18, in just over four months. In 2024, in the Bronx, shooting victims under the age of 18 went up 200% compared to 2018.
Jeffrey's mother, meanwhile, was too distraught to come up with the words to describe her anguish.
She could only find the strength to briefly talk about her only child's future, who was looking forward to college.
"She wanted to be a medical technician," Jeffrey's grandmother said.
On Tuesday morning, candles burned outside the family's apartment building. A woman who bought the candles said she'll remember Evette's smile the most.
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