16-year-old bystander shot, killed outside NYC high school; 14-year-old person of interest

NEW YORK -- There was a somber start to school Tuesday morning in the Bronx after a 16-year-old girl, an innocent bystander, was fatally shot.

Evette Jeffrey was shot in the head and died outside Bronx Latin School on Monday around 5 p.m.

By Tuesday afternoon, a 14-year-old boy was in police custody in connection with her murder.

Jeffrey's grandmother pushed through her pain to talk to ABC New York City affiliate WABC to talk about her grandaughter.

She shared a picture of Jeffrey as a little girl. She graduated from Dunbar Middle School and was attending Morris High School.

She was fun-loving, wanted to be everyone's friend and was looking forward to going to college.

On Tuesday morning, candles burned outside the family's apartment building. A woman who bought the candles said she'll remember Jeffrey's smile the most.

Authorities say a fight broke out near the building that houses Bronx Latin school.

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A 14-year-old boy who had been punched and knocked to the ground, fired three shots into a crowd after someone slipped him a pistol, officials said.

Jeffrey was just riding by on her scooter when she stopped to talk to someone gathered around the fight.

When shots rang out, police say video shows a male trying to pull her to safety, but not before she suffered a fatal shot to the head.

"I hold your family responsible because they should be watching you," the victim's grandmother said. "Whoever handed it to you or if you had it, I will never forgive you. I don't care. You can say you're sorry a million times, I will never forgive you, any of you. "

Police are now looking for the 14-year-old boy as a person of interest in connection to the shooting, and they may be looking to make more arrests as they continue to investigate how that young shooter got his hands on the gun.

Jeffrey's family said that she had talked about working in the medical field had she had the chance to go to college.

"A 16-year-old is dead at the hands of a 14-year-old with a gun," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "These are babies killing babies, and it has to stop."

So far in 2025, there have been 28 victims and 17 shooters, all under the age of 18, in just over four months. In 2024, in the Bronx, shooting victims under the age of 18 went up 200% compared to 2018.