Mount Vernon basketball star killed by a stray bullet
A 13-year-old girl was killed in broad daylight when a stray bullet hit her while she was riding in the backseat of a car in the suburbs of New York City.
Shamoya McKenzie was shot in the head in Mount Vernon, New York, around 2.30pm on New Year's Eve while she was in the car with her mother and two family members.
Family and friends in Westchester County spent the first day of the new year mourning the loss of the young basketball star, who dreamed of one day joining the WNBA.
Shamoya McKenzie (pictured left, and right, with her mom Nadine McKenzie) was shot in the head in Mount Vernon, New York, around 2.30pm on New Year's Eve
A shooting broke out as the car drove past Pease Street on East Third. McKenzie, who was in the car with her mom and two famiyl members, died in the hospital
A shooting broke out as the car drove past Pease Street on East Third, and a photograph of the vehicle shows a bullet hole in the window of the back seat.
The teenager, who police believe was an innocent bystander, was taken to the Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital where she died, police said.
A 28-year-old man driving the car was hit in the arm and is expected to survive, NBC reported. His name has not been released.
An investigation is ongoing and police have not arrested anyone in connection to the incident.
The girl's mother, Nadine McKenzie, watched her daughter die and told NBC: 'I didn't know she got shot 'til we saw the hole in the window. My baby's gone.'
Students at the Graham School, where McKenzie was a star on the junior varsity basketball team, gathered on Sunday to commemorate the 13-year-old.
About a hundred people gathered outside Mount Vernon High School and released white balloons in her memory.
McKenzie, who dreamed of going to the University of Connecticut and joining the WNBA, was playing in an all-boys program, her coach Dwayne Murray told the Journal News.
The girl's mother, Nadine McKenzie, watched her daughter die and told NBC: 'I didn't know she got shot 'til we saw the hole in the window. My baby's gone' (pictured, Shamoya McKenzie)
About a hundred people gathered outside Mount Vernon High School and released white balloons in her memory on Sunday
McKenzie's mom (pictured) said the teenager dreamed of attending the University of Connecticut and joining the WNBA
'She was on her way...I promised her that she would make a high school team before she graduated middle school and that she would go to college for free.
'That's a promise that's going to be unkept,' Murray said.
Rashida Brown, McKenzie's sister, wrote on Facebook: 'Shamoya was only 13 and didn't even live her life yet.
'You know when someone says a child is perfect, that was Shammy. Respectful, funny, kind, everything you could name in the book was her.
'She used to always say "I wanna make it to the WNBA and take care of my entire family." And trust me our family isn't small.