A nine-year-old girl hid in a cupboard while her father shot and killed her mother and two half-sisters – before calling the cops and saying ‘Daddy was coming over for my birthday, and he shot people’.
The heartbreaking 911 was made by the girl late on Monday, April 6, 2021, after her father, Joseph McCrimon, 46, allegedly gunned down three of her relatives before turning the gun on himself.
The tragic murder-suicide happened in an apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, during the girl’s birthday party.
The girl’s 45-year-old mother, Rasheeda Barzey, and Barzey’s two other daughters, Chloe Spears, 16, and Solei Spears, 20, all died at the scene, The New York Police Department has confirmed.
McCrimon, who was not the older girls’ father, then shot himself in the head.
NYPD Chief of Detectives, James Essig, said cops found McCrimon nine-year-old daughter hiding in a closet when they arrived at the apartment at around 11:20pm on Monday night. He also said she phoned 911 to tell police about the massacre.
Speaking to reporters, Essing said: ‘She was just calling 911, you know, if you can imagine, it’s horrific, the 911, saying, “Daddy was coming over for my birthday, and he shot people”. ‘And she was weeping and crying (that she) didn’t have presents. It was heartbreaking to hear that. We found her hidden in a closet.’
According to the New York Post, the shooter, McCrimon, has a previous conviction of manslaughter in Nassau County, Long Island. He spent several years behind bars for fatally shooting Eugene Grant Jr, 28, a married father of five, in 1993, the outlet has reported.
A resident in an apartment below Barzey’s at the Van Dyke Houses, in Brooklyn, where the victim lived with her three children, said the couple had previously had ‘really bad’ arguments.
The neighbour said: ‘Last night, there were no words, no argument. Just “pop, pop”, and after the first pop, she started wailing. The massacre happened at the girl’s ninth birthday party
‘Then there was three more, and there was silence. Dead silence. ‘I thought, “Should I call 911?”, But five seconds later, the sirens were coming. ‘I’m just so thankful that baby… was in the closet.’
McCrimon and Barzey had been in a ‘very rocky’ relationship for years, relatives told authorities. But Essig said the trouble between the pair was not enough for police to step in. ‘There were no prior domestics between them’, he said.
New York Health+ Hospitals, which operates city hospitals and other health care facilities, released a statement following Barzey’s death, and confirmed she was an employee, WABC-TV reported.
The statement said: ‘We are deeply saddened by the senseless death of a member of the NYC Health + Hospitals family.
‘In addition to reaching out to relatives, we have activated our Helping Healers Heal team to support those who worked beside this staff member and may need grief counseling.’
New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, addressed called the shootings a ‘really troubling and tragic situation’.
He said: ‘A horrible, horrible situation, and my heart goes out for those who have been lost.’
(Metro)