Harlem grandmother killed by stray bullet remembered at funeral as 'pillar of the community'
HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- A community came together in grief on Friday to remember and honor a beloved grandmother who was gunned down by a stray bullet in Harlem.
Rev. Al Sharpton, Mayor Eric Adams and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams were among the mourners at the funeral for 61-year-old Excenia Mette.
For those who knew and loved her, the grief was unbearable. And they struggled to find the words to describe it.
"It's a lot. She's a martyr, that's all I can say, because she's always bringing the community together and supporting everybody and everything," one mourner said. "And she was always against violence."
Mette was known as "Momma Zee," the first Black woman to own a bodega in New York City, a mother and a grandmother. And a trusted friend.
She was working in the bodega last week when she heard gunfire, stepped outside and was struck in the head by a stray bullet. It was captured on surveillance video-as two young men fired gunshots at one another.
Sharpton delivered the eulogy.
"We have got to stop this gun violence in our community, he said.
Mayor Adams was asked about the latest crime stats that reveal shootings in the city are down.
"We know our numbers are good but it must match the ending of these stories, you know, because it can bringing down to numbers, taking 21,000 guns off the streets, but you have to come to a funeral of a grandmother who was a pillar of this community," Adams said. "It is difficult to give people the stats when you have to experience this."
Williams also spoke out about the loss to the community.
"Momma Zee represented the best of what we want New Yorkers to do," he said. "From everything I've heard she exhibited, do what you can with what you have, where you are for a community, for the city. This is just an amazing tragedy to be impacted by the thing that she's trying to prevent."
Two men are now facing several charges in connection with her death.
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