A high school athlete fell victim to a stray bullet during a shooting in Mount Vernon Saturday afternoon.
Shamoya McKenzie was riding in the backseat of a car that drove by Pease Street at around 2:30 p.m, officials said. Gunshots rang out as the car drove along, and that's when the 13-year-old was hit in the head by a stray bullet.
The teen was taken to Mount Vernon hospital, where she was pronounced dead, said Mount Vernon Police Department Captain Adinnaro.
The 28-year-old driver was shot in the arm. The driver is recovering from his injuries.
Nadine McKenzie, Shamoya's mother, watched her teen daughter pass away in front of her. She's struggling with how to tell her own mother than she won't see her granddaughter again.
"I didn't know she got shot 'til we saw the hole in the window. My baby's gone," she said. "It's very hard for my family. Her grandmother, we don't know how to tell her."
Authorities said there are no arrests at this time, and the investigation is ongoing.
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Over 100 classmates and community members spent their New Year's holiday gathered in the gym of Mount Vernon High School to memorialize McKenzie, whose teachers and peers described the teen as a standout student and a star athlete at the Graham School.
"She was probably one of the best players [on the team]," said a classmate.
"That's what hurts so much, she was really soaring," her coach Dwayne Murray said.
Nadine McKenzie said her daughter had recently been contacted by the University of Connecticut to play basketball.
"She wanted to go to Mount Vernon High School for the scholarship, then UConn and WNBA," she said. "My family didn't witness that. Graduation next year, we don't witness that."
