A young woman was gunned down in a Bronx apartment building when she went to protect a friend who was in some sort of trouble, friends and law enforcement sources say.
Aaliyah Alder, 21, was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head Monday night on the eighth floor of the Forest Houses building on Tinton Avenue in Morrisania, police said.
Davaughn Johnson, 22, was arrested Tuesday evening on charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
Law enforcement sources say Alder may have gone to the building to help her best friend. An argument led to Alder slashing a man in the hand and jacket, police say. That's when another man, believed to be Johnson, shot her in the head.
"There was a lot of noise, a lot of fighting," said neighbor Lourdes Lobledo. "I was sitting right here and I told my cousin to call the cops."
Johnson is the boyfriend of Alder's best friend, police say. He didn't speak to reporters as he was led out of the police station Tuesday evening.
Alder's boyfriend was at her home on Tuesday, too distraught to talk.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Alder's stepfather Patrick Murray told NBC 4 New York she was an aspiring model.
"She was a hard-working person. A good personality. A good person, a person you can trust," he saud.
"This is so sad, we are so shocked, hurt, because we can't bring her back," he said.
