A Connecticut teenager who was visiting his dad in The Bronx so they could go shopping for school was the victim of a random drive-by shooting early today, possibly involving a gruesome gang initiation, a police source said.
The victim, Tashawn Bromfield, 16, was hanging out in the courtyard of his dad’s house at 3482 Fenton Av. in Eastchester Heights drinking a slurpee with his friend, Daijon Powell, 16, and one other teen when two shots rang out from the passenger side of a four door sedan cruising by.
A bullet fatally pierced Tashawn in the chest and the high school junior stumbled away screaming before collapsing behind a tree. Daijon ran to his side and helplessly watched as his friend died.Tashawn Bromfield and his mom, Dionne Johnson-Russell Officers at the scene of the tragic murder.
Tashawn, who was set to try out for the Spartan football team at Francis T. Maloney HS in Meriden where he lived with his mom , was pronounced dead at Jacobi shortly after the 12:40 a.m. shooting.
“He [Tashawn] came to visit and I let my son stay out because he was such a good kid. I told them they could hang out in the courtyard for a little while,” said Daijon’s mom Winifred Powell, 46, a nurse’s assistant.
“My neighbor called me and said there were shots on Fenton. I ran downstairs and heard my son yelling, ‘mom come quick!’ My son saw his friend take his last breath.
“He is really shaken up. My son couldn’t sleep all night he laid in bed crying ad shaking. He was an innocent kid. This is crazy this what happened to him.
Tashawn lived with his remarried mom Dionne Johnson-Russell in the suburbs.
Reached at home the overwrought mom told The Post, “I am in his room and I am sitting in his chair where he used to play video games. I am touching his pillow.”
Tragically she had moved her two daughters and Tashawn to the safety of the suburbs and away from the crime.
“We moved when he was six. He wasn’t a city kid,” she said.
His dad Basil, who worked for Coca-Cola but was laid off last year, said his son had worked hard all summer to get in shape for the football tryouts. Joining the team “That was his dream,” his dad said.
The pair planned to go shopping for school supplies, get Tashawn a haircut and visit relatives before the teenager headed back to the suburbs tomorrow.
““I saw him 20 minutes before he was shot. The only reason I left him was because he was such a good kid and he was with two other good kids.
“When I found out he was shot I told the police, ‘this can’t be possible. He wasn’t a kid who even knew people who did drugs or had guns.’ We were supposed to spend today together getting a haircut, shopping and visiting family and all I have is this.”
Police are viewing grainy surveillance video that captured the shooting.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/teen_gunned_down_in_mistaken_identity_7lE0OzQCLS4m9k2MjyRqOL#ixzz3CWLAECiO
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