Angry family members of the young mother who was brutally murdered on New York’s Upper East Side attended a memorial to mourn her loss.
The victim’s mother accused the authorities of ignoring her frequent reports of domestic abuse.
The memorial service was held on Thursday evening at a playground close to the location where 20-year-old Azsia Johnson was fatally shot in the head at close range the day before while pushing her three-month-old kid in a stroller.
Johnson’s mother Lisa Desort was clearly moved as she indicated that her daughter’s death may have been avoided and that she believes an abusive ex-boyfriend is the murderer.
“We contacted the domestic violence [section] every day.”
The mother sobbed, “You know what they told me, it’s not harassment if he makes a threat. “My daughter is now deceased.
She’s gone! a woman in her 20s with an 800 credit score.
Although no suspects or arrests have been made public, police are looking into domestic violence as a possible motive and are looking for the ex-boyfriend as a person of interest in the investigation.
Desort and Mayor Eric Adams were spotted chatting quietly during the vigil. Later, as he stood next to her and addressed the gathering, he expressed his sorrow.
With a balloon release and the words “we love you, Azsia,” the candlelight vigil came to an end.
Desort previously claimed that her daughter was abused by her ex-boyfriend, who is 22 years old, roughly six months ago while she was six months pregnant with his child.
After the event, she claimed the unidentified man was “stalking” and “harassing” her daughter, and she said they had begged police to get involved.
Desort, though, argued that he had never been detained and blasted the police for ‘failing to protect her’ daughter who had been shot in the back of the head last night in the Upper East Side.
Johnson was the victim of a horrible incident on Wednesday at 8:23 p.m., when a hooded guy wearing all-black attire shot her in the back of the head.
Before she was killed on the sidewalk, she reportedly texted her family to let them know she was going to see her ex-boyfriend. Her child suffered no injury.
‘We contacted the precinct multiple times to alert the [domestic violence] section that he was stalking and distressing her,’ Desort sobbedly told The New York Post on Thursday afternoon.
The mother continued, “Even [though] they knew what apartment he lived in, they failed to apprehend and detain him.”
My daughter wasn’t protected by the city.
She continued to Fox News, saying, “All anyone in this city needs to know is that we repeatedly called for her safety. My daughter was not shielded, and now she is dead.
According to Julie Menin, a City Council member who represents the region, NYPD has identified a person of interest and is looking into a possible connection between the fatal shooting and domestic abuse.
Although the father of the infant has not been labeled as a suspect in the women’s murder, sources tell the New York Daily News that police are looking for him so they may question him.
At a press conference on Wednesday night, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated that Johnson was shot once in the head from a very close distance by a hooded shooter.
After being taken to the hospital, the victim passed away. The child suffered no injury. Desort told PIX11 that her daughter was in the park with her infant daughter when the incident took place.
She was using a tracking software to keep tabs on Johnson, so when the app revealed that Johnson was in the hospital, she was worried. Desort claimed that she attempted to call, but nobody picked up.
Police then delivered the tragic news to her door.
She said, “I fell on the ground.”
The young mother planned to meet with her child’s father the night before she was killed so they could hash things out, sources said the New York Daily News.
He allegedly abused her while she was expecting, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him in her life.
A police source said of the incident, “It appears she was targeted, not a stray bullet.”
“Close contact head wound.” To demonstrate how close he was, she had powder burns on her head.
The victim’s mother claimed they phoned for help “many” times in recent alleged attacks, though it’s unclear if the incidents were reported to the police.
He threatened to kill me, my daughter, and my other daughter, according to Desort.
“We called the precinct a lot,” was said. Desort claimed that her daughter had every advantage.
She cared about people and had worked since she was 16 years old.
She was the best mother,” the woman cried. “This is not what my daughter deserved.”
That is my neighbor’s daughter, according to neighbor and friend Ebony Baulin, who spoke to DailyMail.com. She was a decent woman. She was content. She was dating someone.
She was simply a nice girl. She was the one who would always urge me not to fight with her mother whenever we got into an argument.
She looked after her children. She was reserved. She looked after her children while going to work.
I’ve had a few encounters with [the ex-boyfriend].”
Mother Lauren Brandel, 42, who has lived on the Upper East Side for more than 20 years, broke down in tears as she said that she walks her little daughter near the neighbourhood where Johnson was fatally shot every evening.
This is our walk, and we come here every day, literally, every single day, she said. At that playground, we had fun.
She claimed, however, that she is unable to alter her daily schedule or avoid the neighbourhood where she has resided for twenty years.
It can occur anyplace, she remarked.
Brandel noted that while she had previously felt safer pushing a stroller, her feelings have since changed.
With regard to Johnson’s murder, she added, “If this was random, it’s a game changer.”
The Manhattan area where Johnson was assassinated is one of the wealthiest in New York, with typical property prices at a staggering $1.5 million and private school tuition costs topping $58,000 annually.
The tragic incident was witnessed by terrified kids at the neighbouring playground, and one girl related hearing a loud “boom” that she instantly recognized was a bullet.
The killing was attributed to the “over-proliferation of guns,” according to Mayor Eric Adams, who also said that criminals “have no fear in using these guns on innocent New Yorkers.”
Four days after President Joe Biden enacted legislation that represents some of the most significant reforms to federal gun law in decades, a shooting occurred.
During the signing ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Biden remarked, “Lives will be spared.”
‘We don’t even hear about the amount of people slain every day in the streets, from Columbine to Sandy Hook to Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, El Paso, Atlanta, Buffalo, Uvalde, and for the shootings that happen every day in the streets that are mass shootings. The president remarked, “Their message to us was to do something.
We did today, he said.
The new rule was passed in response to a string of deadly mass shootings, including ones at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 17 students and two teachers perished, and a grocery store in Buffalo where 10 people of colour were killed.
Although the measure does not contain all of Biden’s demands, it does contain acts that will save lives, he acknowledged.
The president applauded the issue’s bipartisan work.
It’s now when it appears impossible to do anything in Washington. We are making a significant contribution, he declared.
The day after the shooting, state and city officials in New York announced legal actions against ten vendors of gun parts that, according to the government, might be put together to create undetectable ghost weapons and be sold without background checks.
Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, and Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, claimed that a growing number of crime scenes in New York had been visited by the ghost guns offered by online vendors.
At a news conference in Manhattan alongside James and other officials, Adams, a former police officer, declared, “These are serious weapons.” We shouldn’t assume that they are merely hobbyists’ kits. Murderers make advantage of them. All of them are prohibited.
The shooter was described as a man dressed in dark jeans and a hooded hoodie. The killer’s identity was not further described by the police.
The woman was taken by ambulance to the Metropolitan Hospital, but she passed away there within an hour. The infant was not hurt and was also sent to the hospital for evaluation.
The 19th police precinct of New York City, where the shooting took place, is typically one of the safest parts of the city. Just two murders were reported in the precinct in 2018; as of Wednesday, no killings had been reported in 2022.
The precinct, which includes the mayor’s mansion, Gracie Mansion, is one of Manhattan’s most densely populated residential zones.
It also includes a section of Madison Avenue that features some of the city’s most premium retail establishments.
The 19th Precinct, like the rest of the city, is experiencing an increase in crime, according to data from the NYPD.
Robbery is up 60% this year so far compared to the same time last year, and felony assault is up 23%. Major crimes are up 44% this year so far in the precinct.
The precinct has so far in 2022 registered 1,162 serious crimes, as opposed to 805 events during the same period in 2021.
Robbery, burglary, and felony assault are the three offences that have increased the most in New York City overall this year compared to the previous year, totalling a 38 percent increase.
However, homicides are down 13% from last year, and shooting victims are down 9%; Adams and law enforcement officials attribute these improvements to efforts to remove illegal firearms from the streets.
The NYPD detectives are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call them at 1-800-577-TIPS.