A 20-year-old Brooklyn woman who survived a drive-by shooting that killed her 12-year-old cousin Kade Lewin is talking for the first time since last month’s incident. NBC New York’s Sarah Wallace reports.
A 20-year-old woman shot six times in Brooklyn late last month as she sat in a parked car with her cousins eating dinner, was finally released from the hospital, one day after hundreds mourned the 12-year-old killed in the drive-by barrage.
A college student who works two jobs, Jenna Ellis had taken her two cousins -- 12-year-old Kade Lewin and 8-year-old Kylie -- out to dinner on March 31.
That night, around 8 p.m., Ellis pulled over near East 56th Street and Linden Boulevard in East Flatbush. That's where numerous shots were fired.
"As we were almost done eating, and picking up garbage - that's when the car came by and shot it up," Ellis told NBC New York. "I was shot in my stomach, my right breast and my cheek."
Ellis didn't initially realize she'd been hurt. She rushed around to the back seat and scooped up the youngest, who was unhurt, and placed her behind a nearby tree. When she went back for Kade, he wasn't moving.
"The hardest is I am not going to see him again. He was my cousin, my little brother, my best friend," Ellis said.
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Ellis couldn't attend Lewin's funeral service on Wednesday. Instead, she was stuck in the hospital where she was still being treated for her injuries.
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Hundreds filled the pews for the services for Kade Lewin at New Life Tabernacle on Avenue D in East Flatbush.
"He was a star and delighted everyone. Wherever the child went, a light of love joined, and happiness was left behind," said his aunt, Jennifer Ellis.
In one of the most heart-wrenching scenes, Lewin's 7th grade classmates from Brooklyn Science and Engineer Academy gave their final goodbyes to their friend.
"He made everyone's life happier. Happier than it was before they came upon him," the school's principal, Angela DeFilippis, said. "But we know that his story is not one memory. His story is not his death — it's his life."
It is believed that Lewin, who was struck in the head and chest while sitting in the passenger seat, was not the intended target of the shooting. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, according to senior police officials.
Kade’s mother, Suzette Lewin, and aunt told NBC New York that they arrived at the scene before police, and Suzette Lewin cradled her baby for the final time.
In the weeks that have followed, Ellis said she's been dealing with survivor's guilt, and has asked "why wouldn't it be me?"
She said she doesn't understand why there have been no arrests when other recent high-profile crimes have been solved in a matter of days.
"For me to just look on the news and see all the police commissioners and all the people on their microphones at their press conferences say 'ok, we caught this person, we caught these people,' I want to hear that about my cousin. I want to see the suspects, I want to see what they look like, I want to see them in court," Ellis said.
A law enforcement source said detectives are working under the theory that the shooting is a case of mistaken identity.
An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
