An Argument Devolved Into a Shooting. A 'Beloved' N.Y.C Grandmother Was Killed in the Crossfire

A New York City grandmother was identified as the victim in a fatal shooting in Harlem Tuesday — reportedly after being caught in crossfire as she walked out the door of her apartment building.

On Tuesday, April 22, NYPD officers heard shots fired and found a 61-year-old woman, later identified as Excenia Mette, suffering a gunshot wound to the head, according to a department press release.

A 23-year-old man was also taken to the hospital after being shot in the foot during the shooting, police said. A person of interest was taken into custody but not named.

The shooting occurred outside the building where Mette lived, according to police. The New York Daily News reported, citing police, that Mette heard an argument outside her window and initially yelled out for those outside to stop fighting, knowing that her grandson was outside.

The paper reported that the argument, which reportedly did not involve her grandson, devolved into a fight and Mette went outside to try and break it up.

Mette was killed in the crossfire after shooting broke out, the paper reported, citing police.

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The Daily News reported that Mette was well-known in her community, having been a part of Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. She was also the proprietor of the first Black woman-owned bodega in New York, which operated for more than 30 years before closing during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2020 GoFundMe she started.

“We at the House of Justice are deeply saddened and outraged by the tragic and senseless loss of Excenia Mette, a beloved member of our community,” Rev. Ronald McHenry of the National Action Network’s House of Justice told the Daily News.

McHenry added that the organization would do anything it could to support her family financially in the wake of her death.