Source: KiddNation / Kidd Nation
A community in Harlem is mourning the loss of 31-year-old Shanice Young this week. The pregnant mother of two was slain in front of her children on September 12, after attempting to break up a fight between her boyfriend and ex-lover, The Daily News reported.
The incident occurred outside her home and just steps away from the catering hall where she and her family and friends were celebrating her baby shower. During the altercation, Young’s ex-lover opened fire and fatally shot the young mother in the head. Her father, 57-year-old Thurman Young told The Daily News that she was just days away from giving birth to her new baby.
“She was going to have her baby in five days. She said ‘This baby is coming in five days, Daddy, get ready’. I said ‘I’ll be ready’. That’s the last thing she said to me.”
Young and her current boyfriend returned home from the baby shower around 1:15 a.m., police said. As they were carrying presents from the shower into her apartment building on W. 128th street near Fredrick Douglass Blvd., Young and her current lover were approached by her ex, who immediately began chasing her boyfriend throughout the building.
“[The gunman] came in chasing the boyfriend,” Jose Morales, the building’s superintendent, recalled the incident. “They ran through here and out the other side and they ran downstairs.”
The two men eventually circled their way back to the street where they began to fight. Young tried to break up the altercation, but as she fought to split the two feuding men, her ex-boyfriend pulled out a gun and shot her.
During the time of the incident, Young’s two daughters, ages 15 and 6, were present. They watched as their mother was rushed to Harlem Hospital where she and her unborn baby later passed away.
Young’s father alleged that the ex could have been seeking revenge. He told the outlet that his daughter had “put him out” after discovering that he was cheating. He suspects that her former boyfriend may have been jealous because she had moved on. According to her dad, Young had “three orders of protection against her ex since their split.”
If anyone has information on the whereabouts of the suspect, please call the CrimeStoppers tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Our thoughts are with Shanice Young and her entire family during this difficult time.
RELATED CONTENT: A Black Woman And Child Bystander Victims In A Fatal Domestic Violence Incident
