A rally was held Wednesday for the innocent bystander who was killed while at a vigil for another shooting victim.
32-year-old Shalimar Birkett died in a drive-by shooting in Brooklyn, New York on Monday night.
She was attending a vigil for 31-year-old Miles Bobbsemple. He was shot and killed less than 24 hours earlier at a house party in Brooklyn.
Police believe both of them were innocent victims of gang violence. Birkett’s mother also lost a son to gun violence.
“All of this gun violence for no reason. Everything they did to her is senseless. This is a mother now without kids. And for this to happen again. Our family is going through hell already. I need justice. If you’re not a coward, come forward,” Sophia Husbands, Birkett’s aunt, said.
Authorities say Birkett, a mother of two, was shot in the head on Park Place in the Weeksville section just after 11 p.m.
Birkett was attending the vigil for Bobbsemple when a gunman opened fire from a passing white sedan.
The family spoke out Tuesday night, condemning the senseless violence.
“She got shot at a vigil. What is this world coming to?” Birkett’s uncle Alston Josiah said.
She is not believed to be the gunman’s intended target, and she was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital.
Birkett was part of a crowd of people mourning 31-year-old Miles Bobbsemple, who was dropped off at Kings County Hospital early Monday morning with a gunshot wound to the chest.
He later died at the hospital and is also believed to be an innocent victim of gang violence.
Detectives have since determined Bobbsemple was shot at a house party on Remsen Avenue, near Avenue A, around 12:25 a.m. Monday.
Bobbsemple appears to have accidentally stepped on a gang member’s foot or somehow showed a sign of disrespect, police said.
The gang member opened fire, killing Bobbsemple and wounding a 30-year-old man who survived.
No arrests were made in that homicide either.
Members of the same gang are believed to have opened fire on the vigil in continuing escalation of violence.
“We def do need police. Please do not defund the police. We are asking the police to help find my cousin’s killer,” Birkett’s cousin Harriet Hines said.
Shalimar, who went by Shelly, leaves behind two young boys. Her mother is left with mounting loss.
Eyewitness News is told Birkett’s mother lost a son to gun violence four years ago. And now Shelly.
“I’ll remember her as a sweet person, dear and loving mother to her children and to the family,” Harriet said.
Bobbsemple had no criminal record. Birkett had one prior arrest that is sealed.
Anyone with information about either case is urged to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit tips by visiting the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by messaging on Twitter @NYPDTips.
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