Girl friend and boyfriend shot dead and another seriously hurt in triple shooting after party in brooklyn
Monday, May 30, 2011
, Posted by HTMZ.COM at 5:23 AM
A gunman was being hunted Sunday night after a triple shooting left the young mother of a five-year-old girl dead, her boyfriend dead and his brother fighting for his life in hospital.
Crystal Sweet, 22, was shot dead in the courtyard of a building in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, New York.
Close by her boyfriend Timothy Walters, 29, was shot at point-blank range.
Popular young mother: Crystal Sweet, 22, who was shot dead close to her family's apartment on Sunday morning
His 30-year-old brother, Cornelius, was also shot and was in critical condition in Kings County Hospital.
The shooting happened at 5am outside the apartment block, where Miss Sweet lived with her family, as the three were returning from an all-night party.
Her mother, Josephine Rodriguez, 44, said she was sleeping inside the apartment when the gunshots woke her up.
'Crystal, Crystal, Crystal!' shouted the voices in the courtyard, which was dark at that time of day.
She said: 'My daughter came in and she said somebody's dead. She started screaming out the window and she came to me and that's how I knew.'
She described Miss Sweet as a doting mother who worked long hours as a home health aide to provide for her daughter, the New York Daily News reports.
Fatally shot: A sheet is used to cover the body of Timothy Walters
'She was always happy, no matter what the circumstance.'
Miss Sweet's father, Ricardo Rodriguez said: 'She always had a smile on her face.
'We need to know who did this. We need closure.
Gruesome scene: Police officers examine one of the bodies after the triple shooting
Nightmare discovery: Grieving relatives are comforted at the scene
'It's hard, it's hard. I can't even describe the feeling that I'm going through right now."
Police have yet to reveal a motive for the killings.
Detectives are still sifting through evidence and investigating the circumstances, a police source said.
Miss Sweet's family, and her best friend Rosa Hernandez, believe Mr Walters had got into an argument with someone at the party.
Miss Hernandez said: 'I think somebody was after him.'
Patricia McCall, Mr Walters's aunt, said: 'Somebody run up on them and shot all three of them. That's all I know. My nephew got shot multiple times.'
Miss Sweet had been dating Mr. Watson for a few months, relatives said.
'She just wanted to be a good mother.'
As investigators searched for evidence in a taped-off section of the courtyard on Sunday afternoon, friends and relatives remembered Ms. Sweet with a memorial outside her apartment building, where they placed items including a Bible, a MetroCard, candles and a photograph of her.
Loving tributes: Messages from friends and neighbors are written on a board in memory of Crystal
Myrtle Vega said: 'There has been a lot of violence around here. A lot of drug activities.
'The area is getting badder and badder. I do not feel safe. I do not feel safe at all.
Fellow resident Gregory Boyd added: 'They shoot all the time. They just shoot for fun.'
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