A young mother-of-two was killed while attending a vigil for her friend who died just hours earlier.
The bloody incident takes place in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn where 32-year-old Shalimar Birkett, a mother of two young boys, attended a memorial service for her 31-year-old friend, Miles Bobbsemple.
During the vigil, a gunman stopped by and opened fire, fatally injuring the young woman who was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.
According to the early reports, Birkett was shot at around 11 pm on Wednesday, the same day her friend was killed by a gunman after accidentally stepping on the foot of the gang member.
The authorities believe that the suspect who shot Birkett is the same person that killed Bobbsemple just hours before the vigil. As the police told the Daily News, the gunman is believed to have shot the mother-of-two by mistake, whereas he opened fire at the vigil believing that rival gang members were present.
Following the deadly memorial service, Birkett’s mom spoke out to Daily News and branded her daughter’s death a “nightmare.”
“She was an outgoing, fun person, loved by everyone — all her friends and family. Why? Why you had to come shoot and kill my daughter? She was just there,” Patricia Hamilton expressed.
Speaking of her daughter’s two young sons, aged 10 and 11, the distraught mother added: “She always takes them out to eat, shopping. They go to waterparks and stuff during the summertime. They do fun things together, her and the aunts and the cousins.”
Paying a tribute to the devoted mother was also one of her friends, Cesia Sade, who said Birkett died despite not bothering anyone.
“I hope the person that pulled that trigger last night KNOWS that he took away a MOTHER of TWO YOUNG KINGS, A daughter from a mother who lost her son also & a friend of MANY! SMH. SLEEP PEACEFULLY Shelly Birkett,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
Our thoughts are with Birkett’s family and friends during these hard times.