“We decided to have her cremated just so the family can have something,” the grieving grandmother of teen Evette Jeffrey told The Post Tuesday.
“The mom doesn’t want her in the cemetery. The family doesn’t want it.”
“They took her away from us. They took her away from me,” said the woman, asking only to be identified as “grandma.”
Just minutes after she spoke, a US Marshals task force picked up the suspected teen gunman near 952 Rev. James A. Polite Avenue, law enforcement sources told The Post.
The teen is currently being held at the 42nd Precinct station and is facing murder charges, the sources said.
Evette was riding her scooter after school when a brawl between a group of teens erupted into gunfire outside a Morrisania schoolyard shortly after 5 p.m., NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at the scene.
The girl was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
“It’s so much,” her grandmother said through tears. “I still have to go to school. They probably know because it was released last night. I still have to go. I know her friends. They are devastated.”
Tisch said the violence broke out after the gun-toting teen was slugged by another boy outside 800 Home Street, which houses three schools – Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health and Science and Science Charter School, Bronx Latin and Bronx Career and College Preparatory High School.
The teen who was punched then chased the group and opened fire, striking Evette, the commissioner said.
“She’s forever 16.” the girl’s grandmother said. “That’s it.”
Advertisement