Mother, 32, Shot Dead Outside Brookdale Hospital

A young Brooklyn mother on her way to visit her child at Brookdale Hospital was fatally shot in the neck outside the facility early Tuesday, police said. 
 
The family of Shalema Gaskin said the 32-year-old mother had visited one child who was hospitalized at Brookdale and left the hospital after 2 a.m. to check on another of her children at home. Almost an hour later she was found shot at the corner of Hegeman Avenue and East 98th Street. Teddy bears, flowers and candles now mark the spot of her slaying.
 
"I want the person who shot and killed my daughter caught," said her mother, Tanya Gaskin. "I want some justice."
 
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding Gaskin's slaying. They say she wasn't robbed, and her family says she was a loving mother who didn't have any enemies.
 
Gaskin's family said she had been visiting her 8-year-old daughter who had been hospitalized for an asthma attack. 
  
Her family is questioning why it took so long to find her and whether security conditions outside the hospital contributed to the tragic case.
 
"All this is hospital grounds," said Gaskin's aunt Mona Lewis. "Where are the cameras? Why wasn't there security or something out here?"
 
 
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