Source: Facebook
Those of you in the New York City area may have already heard of Tiarah Poyau’s name by now. She was the 22-year-old college student who was killed during this Labor Day weekend’s festivities. Poyau was attending the pre-West-Indian Day Parade, J’ouvert with three friends early Monday morning when a man attempted to grind on her. She told him, “Get off me.”
According to the New York Post, the friends, who were walking ahead of her, heard a shot and saw her fall to the ground at Empire Boulevard and Franklin Avenue. A source confirmed that Poyau was shot in the eye at close range.
Detective Robert Boyce said, “This young lady is just a stellar person. No issues in her life whatsoever, and none before either.”
According to the New York Daily News, Poyau, a St. John’s University student, wrote about her experience studying abroad in Paris, Rome and Seville and her dreams of becoming an accountant. St. John’s University president Conrado Gempesaw said, “Tiarah was pursuing a dual degree B.S./M.S. program in the Peter J. Tobin College of Business where she recently completed her undergraduate degree in accounting in May 2016, and had just begun graduate work toward her Masters degree in taxation. She had a bright future ahead of her and was taken much too son. The entire University community sends our thoughts and prayers to the Poyau family during this difficult time.”
Reginald Moise, the 20-year-old who shot her was found Tuesday morning drunkenly driving on three wheels with a Caribbean flag wrapped around his bloody hand.
According to the Post, before his arrest, Moise told his friends, “I think I shot somebody on the parade route. I didn’t know the gun was loaded.”
Before he shot Payou, Moise had five prior sealed arrests. After shooting Payou, he fled to his girlfriend’s apartment in Crown Heights where he asked to hide the gun.
At the girlfriend’s apartment, Moise fired two rounds into the mirror injuring his hand. One of the bullets entered the neighbor’s home. The neighbor called police.
Boise then left the apartment, crashing into several parked cars along the way. He lost a wheel before officers stopped him around 8 a.m. The officers who responded to the neighbor’s call, found the weapon at Moise’s girlfriend’s apartment.
Boise was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment.
Veronica Wells is the culture editor at MadameNoire.com. She is also the author of “Bettah Days.”
