A family and community are in mourning as a pregnant mom in New York was fatally shot on Sept. 12 after celebrating at her baby shower just minutes prior.
Shanice Young, 31, was a mother of two — and soon-to-be three — when she was shot in the head while trying to break up a fight between her current and former boyfriend. The shooting happened as Young was unloading gifts from her shower in front of her building. The former boyfriend chased her current boyfriend through her building before targeting her. Cops believe that the suspect targeted her after her boyfriend got away, rather than it being an accidental shooting.
“Shanice was nine months pregnant … she was nine months pregnant,” her sister Metania told WABC. “Shanice was a victim, she didn’t have four children — she had two, and the third one died with her.”
Young’s family also said that she was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend and she filed three orders of protection against him.
“She was going to have her baby in five days. She said ‘This baby is coming in five days, Daddy, get ready’. I said ‘I’ll be ready’. That’s the last thing she said to me,” Young’s father, Thurman Young, told the New York Daily News.
Her 6- and 15-year-old daughters witnessed their mom being shot. Young was the primary caretaker of them and her two younger siblings following her mother‘s death from ovarian cancer about a year ago.
The police have identified the suspect as Justin Soriano, 40, and released a photo of him. He is still at large and authorities have asked for help in identifying his location.
NYC: Our @NYPDDetectives need your helping finding Justin Soriano. He's wanted for the fatal shooting of a 31-year-old on 9/12 at 1:16 am near W 128 Street & Frederick Douglass Blvd in the @NYPD32Pct.
If you have ANY information contact @NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/MFtiCak9BO
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 14, 2021
