Help Catch A Killer In Shooting Of A Bronx Mother

JESSICA WHITE, BRONX MOTHER OF 3, DIES SHIELDING HER CHILDREN FROM BULLETS IN THE PARK

In his Sunday, Matters of Faith column, Overcoming Evil, Rev. J. Loren Russell wrote about the death of Jessica White was overshadowed by the horrific nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida.

Jessica White had taken her three children to visit her mother, Gola, on a quiet Saturday night in New York City’s Bronx neighborhood. While she sat on a park bench with her mother and a few other family members, laughing and watching the children play, a gunman destroyed the tranquil evening.

According to reports, a gunman walked into the park, appearing to target a small group of men who were sitting near the women in the playground area of John Adams Houses, a public housing complex. Jessica instinctively jumped up to protect her own children from the gunfire, and was hit in the torso right below her heart.

Jessica White_Dead Mother of 3_Adams Hses

Jessica White, mother killed shielding her 3 kids. Facebook

As Gola’s two sons desperately performed CPR on their sister while they waited for emergency medical units to arrive, White begged her mom to check on the kids. Gola scooped the three children up and got them inside out of the way so they wouldn’t have to see their mother first for her life. First responders rushed Jessica to a nearby hospital, where she died. Gola and the three children all escaped without injury.

Police believe that the shooting was gang-related. The gunman was described as being dressed in black and wearing a ski mask, and the police have also released this image of a man they describe as a “person of interest” in connection with the shooting who they want to bring in for questioning:

NYPD person of interest in Jessica White shooting. NYPD photo.

NYPD person of interest in Jessica White shooting. Photo: NYPD.

Gola told reporters that the children were sent to be with their father, and they hadn’t been told about their mother’s death as of mid-day Sunday. Gola, unfortunately, is blaming herself, as she says Jessica is the third child that she has lost to violence in her 25 years of living in the public housing complex.

“My daughter got up and hit the ground. … If I wasn’t living here this never would have happened,” she told reporters. “She never would’ve been here.” She said that she had applied for a transfer to another housing facility years ago, after one of her sons was killed. That request still hasn’t gone through the labyrinthine system.

If you have any information on this shooting, please contact the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers unit at 1-800-577-TIPS or submit your tip online at this website. You will be able to remain anonymous, and if your tip leads to arrest and indictment, you could receive $2,000.

Reprinted from Investigation Discovery TV CrimeFeed.

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