Suspect charged with murder in deadly shooting of 61-year-old woman in Harlem
HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- A 23-year-old suspect has been charged in the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old woman in Harlem last week.
Ricky Shelby surrendered Monday morning and was questioned before he was arraigned and charged with second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
A crowd of presumed friends and family of the accused gunman, Shelby, gathered from across the street to show support for the accused.
The show of force by the NYPD locking down Frederick Douglass Boulevard might typically indicate a potential threat to the person officially charged in the murder of beloved community activist Matriarch Excenia Mette, but this was quite the opposite.
Excenia Mette was shot in the head Tuesday night.
Family members say Mette had been cleaning up at the deli she helped out at on 113th and Lenox Avenue around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Worried her grandson was involved, she went outside to make sure everything was OK, and that's when she was shot in the head by a stray bullet. Her life was cut tragically short.
"She just broke up a big dispute that they had before this shooting earlier that day. And I just kept begging her stay out of the middle of that because I felt something, I did not know it was going to be this tragic," her sister, Pastor Diane London, said.
Investigators say Shelby was exchanging gunfire with another suspect, 23-year-old Darious Smith.
Police have previously charged 23-year-old Darious Smith, who was shot in the left foot, with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Officials say he was one of the three people involved in the violence that stemmed from a dispute, and opened fire first.
Shelby was previously charged with criminal possession of a weapon in 2020.
"Momma Zee" or "Zeenie" as Mette was known to the community, was remembered at the National Action Network on Saturday.
"He may be sorry, but now it's time to stand up and stand out and stop the violence. We can no longer allow the innocent to take the responsibility of those that are doing are the perpetrators. We have to stop the madness. And although I know she would have forgiveness in her heart for him and as she does, I do, too," London said.
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