Josephine Stratman, Rocco Parascandola, John Annese
New York Daily News
(TNS)
Multiple gunmen opened fire on a car in Queens, killing a 29-year-old mother and wounding her boyfriend — who sped to an NYPD stationhouse in a failed attempt to save her, police said Wednesday.
The killers targeted the vehicle near 127th St. and Liberty Ave. in South Ozone Park, with up to three men opening fire from both sides of the victims’ car about 11:55 p.m. Tuesday, cops said.
They fatally wounded Clarisa Burgos, of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, who family members describe as a vibrant, smiling single mother to a 4-year-old son.
“How do you tell a baby his mommy’s not coming home?” said her aunt Sonia Gallart, as she sat, weeping, with Burgos’ sister, struggling to make sense of the killing.
The 38-year-old driver, shot numerous times in his upper body, raced away, driving more than 2 miles to the 103rd Precinct stationhouse in Jamaica, where he got out of the car and told cops what had happened.
He was rushed by medics to Jamaica Hospital and was in stable condition.
Burgos’ aunt said her niece was seeing the driver romantically, though the family didn’t know where she was headed Tuesday night.
“Somebody was looking for him,” Gallart said. “Be careful with the person, no matter who it is. Study the person you’re going out with. Because you don’t want your parents to go through this. … Sometimes they show one thing, and really it’s another thing.”
Police recovered 16 shell casings, both .45 caliber and 9-mm., from the scene.
The victims were double-parked when the gunmen, dressed all in dark clothing, opened fire, police sources said. Investigators are looking into whether Burgos and her boyfriend were celebrating at a nearby lounge before the shooting.
The wounded driver has 29 arrests on his record, a police source said.
“We have no idea what went wrong,” another aunt, Clover Gallant, said. “We don’t know what happened. We don’t know anything.”
Burgos’ older sister, Julia Burgos, 29, was taking care of Clarisa’s son for the night, and rushed to the stationhouse after she got early-morning phone calls telling her what happened.
“She was a loving mother. She had one son. She loved her son. She wanted to do everything she could for her son. She wanted him to have the world,” Julia Burgos said.
Clarisa blanketed her Facebook page with photos of her son — playing at a water park, getting a pedicure at a salon, smiling outside a goat’s cage at a petting zoo, and even posing with film director Spike Lee while out trick-or-treating on Halloween.
On Christmas, Burgos took her son out ice skating in Brooklyn Bridge Park, her sister said.
“She did everything in her power to make sure he was good. She was going into real estate so that they could have property, so they could own property,” Julia Burgos said. “She bought stuff for him before she bought herself anything.”
Burgos’ son will have the support of her family as he grows up, they said. “Thank God the boy has a big family,” Sonia Gallart said.
Burgos was raised by her aunt, Sonia Gallart. “Clarisa was the baby of the family,” Sonia Gallart said. “My baby of the family. … We’re a big family, and we’re very close.”
“Her smile. Her way of being. She was always happy. She would walk in with a big smile. These are things that are going to be missed,” Clover Gallant said. “Because she was so full of life. Looking forward to getting older.”
Murders are down citywide by more than 11% this year compared with last, with 380 killings through Dec. 24, and shootings have decreased by more than 24%.
Still, the two aunts blamed the shooting on the number of guns on the street and blasted the city’s elected officials for not doing enough to curb the violence.
“The city should do more,” Clover Gallant said. “Start talking to people, getting involved, talking to their children. Stay away from these goddamn guns and stay away from problems.”
“Why? Why is there another child without his mother?” she added.
With Thomas Tracy
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