A 41-year-old Harlem mom was shot in the head in front of her children during a dispute with a neighbor in her public housing complex on Wednesday, cops said.
Jemina Garay was rushed to Harlem Hospital in critical condition after she was shot just before 8:30 a.m. in the 6th floor hallway of NYCHA’s Lincoln Houses on East 135th Street, police said.
Her husband, Eric Garay, 42, identified the victim during a brief phone call with The Post.
“Nobody’s thinking about the fact that my children are going to see this,” he said, while sobbing. “And they’re going to have to relive this over and over again,”
“Her name was J-E-M-I-N-A G-A-R-A-Y and she was the f–king best,” he added of his wife. “That’s all I’m giving everybody. She was the f–king best.”
A high-ranking police source said the wounded woman may not have been directly involved in the dispute and may have tried to intervene.
NYPD officers enter the apartment building after the shooting. William Farrington
Jemina Garay was shot in the head and her shooter fled on foot. William Farrington“My kids called me and told me they heard fighting and shooting and I came,” said tenant Nicole Williams, 52, who also lives on the sixth floor.
“I love her,” she said of Garay. “She’s a good person. She minds her business. She’s a mother of at least six children. She’s a very humble person. She don’t bother nobody. Everybody in the building takes their dogs to her. She grooms them. She does everything.”
Williams added she was “angry” over the violence.
Garay’s husband Eric Garay confirmed to The Post that she was the victim. Facebook“She didn’t deserve to get hurt. He needs to be caught,” Williams said. “Everybody in this building sticks together and we’re not going to let no stranger come in and shoot one of us.”
The shooter was described as wearing a red jacket with black writing on it. He fled on foot toward Harlem River Drive, cops said.
The NYPD’s Aviation Unit had helicopters in the air searching for him.
“You don’t wake up in the morning thinking this is going to happen,” another of Garay’s neighbors, Vanessa Gomez, said. “My mother was just coming into the building when everything happened and she called me, crying, so I didn’t know if the shooter was in the building.
“We’re used to shootings, but we’re not expecting it in our building with somebody we know,” said Gomez, 40. “She didn’t bother anybody. That’s why everybody’s in shock. We’re like, how?”
