Beloved Harlem Grandma Momma Zee Zee killed in the crossfire

A beloved grandmother and community figure was shot down into a street in Harlem when she was the source of excitement outside of her apartment in the Lenox Ave. examined and caught in the crossfire between two men.

A monument to candles and flowers grew in front of the victim's house Excenia Mette, 61, one of the first black woman who opened a Bodega in Harlem in the 1980s.

Friends and family on April 26th remembered them as the “Mayor of Harlem” and placed a white wreath in front of their house after they were from W. 145th St. and Malcolm X BLVD to W. 113th St. and Lenox Ave. had run.

“My grandmother should be here,” grandson Jarian Jordan Jr., 24 was quoted in the Ny post. “We have to stop the senseless weapon violence.”

On the night of the shootout on April 22, around 10:30 p.m., she was in the ground floor of her apartment building in the 61 Lenox Ave. When she heard an excitement. Two men argued and she reportedly heard two shots and asked with the hope that her grandson was safe.

One of the fighters was shot into the foot. Both the mat and the man who was later identified as Darious Smith were brought by Mount Sinai Morningide, but Matte could not be saved.

Smith was arrested on April 24 two days after the shootout and charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, the police said.

A second suspect who was identified as Ricky Shelby, 23 from which Bronx was identified in the 28th PCT. On April 28th and was accused of murder and criminal possession of a weapon due to murder.

The deadly night started around 10:29 p.m. when Smith a blue jean jacket, a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants with a motorized scooter to 57 Lenox Ave. Ride, distributed and approached a group of people on foot.

The prosecutors said Smith shot the group of people twice before he fled to his scooter in the west in W. 113th Street. There he was intercepted by Officer Edwin Abrego and his partners from the 28th PCT. After the shots had been fired, they had cried out the report on the police radio. Smith was already wounded in the foot by a ball that was allegedly fired by Shelby, who fired a stray ball from Shelby's weapon that is the one who killed Mette, the police said.

Smith collided with an officer and tried to flee to St. Nicholas Avenue on foot, where the public prosecutor's office from the Manhattan office had thrown away his black 9 -mm gun onto the sidewalk.

He was finally caught and brought to the mountain of Sinai Morningside, the same hospital where the mette was transported to save her life. He was arrested two days later on April 24th without deposit.

Matte, who was known as Zeenie or Mamma Zee, had opened a Deli, Momma Zees Essen to Plez in the 1980s, which was forced during the covid. She originally came from Peoria, Il. After closed her own deli, she had a cook in 67 Deli Corp. Worked along the street from her apartment.