A 60-year-old woman was struck in the chest by a stray bullet in Harlem Saturday afternoon, just days after beloved bodega owner Excenia “Momma Zee” Mette was killed nearby, also by a stray bullet, cops said.
Saturday’s unidentified victim, who suffered a graze wound, was walking on West 131st Street near Malcolm X Boulevard around 1:30 p.m. when a gunman fired his weapon, police said.
The victim was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
The shooting came a day after Mette, a 61-year-old grandmother, was laid to rest.
“We just have Momma Zee and now this,” said resident Lisa Rodriguez, 47.
A 60-year-old woman was struck by a stray bullet in Harlem on Saturday afternoon. James Keivom
Excenia Mette, 61, was also an innocent bystander when she was fatally shot in the head by a stray bullet moments after stepping out of her building on Malcolm X Boulevard and West 113st Street in Harlem. Excenia Mette/FacebookMette was struck and killed by a stray bullet at Malcolm X Boulevard and West 113th Street on April 22 after stepping outside to check on her 24-year-old grandson.
“The people that are shooting are not shooting the people they want to shoot,” said Rodriguez. “They are hitting innocent people. It’s a shame.”
About five customers were inside a nearby liquor store when the shot rang out, said a store worker who noted the business’ bullet proof glass.
“We heard one shot. They went down, they were hiding behind the bullet proof glass,” he said. “They stayed there until the police came.”
Kids on the playground near the shooting scene didn’t have bullet proof glass to hide behind.
The shots were fired near Malcolm X Boulevard, the same street where a 61-year-old woman was killed by a stray bullet last month. James Keivom“I heard one of them say, ‘What the hell is that?’ ” said longtime neighborhood resident Michelle Edwards about the sound of the gunshot.
“Summer time is coming and it’s only going to get worse. They keep saying shooting is down but not in our community. It doesn’t seem that way. I want to know if it’s on Madison Avenue,” said Edwards, 50, with a lace of sarcasm. “We try to get the kids in early but even that doesn’t matter because this happened in the middle of the day.”
And the shooters themselves are getting younger.
“They are 12 to 25 years old. They see each other in the street and they go off the f–king rails,” she said. “These kids, they are trying to take a life.”






