For the second time in three weeks, death knocked on the door of a devastated Queens family. Mortally injured Talasia Cuffie, 17, was found bleeding on a sidewalk in South Jamaica around 10 p.m. Friday, only 21 days after the teen son of the family that helped raise her was killed by a stray bullet in a beef between two local gangs, police sources said Saturday. Advertisement A horrified local resident found Cuffie outside his home on 166th St. near Foch Blvd., bleeding from two stab wounds — one to her lower abdomen, the other in the side of her chest She was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, and police are still seeking for her killer. When she died, Talasia lived with the family of Aamir Griffin, a 14-year-old buried on Nov. 4 after he was felled while playing basketball outside the Baisley Park Houses by a stray bullet police say was fired in an ongoing gang war. In a grim bit of symmetry, Aamir also was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. And his killer also remains on the loose. It was unclear if the two homicides were connected. A high-ranking police source indicated the ties between Cuffie and the Griffin family go back years, with Talasia recently moving back into their home to comfort the clan after Aamir’s fatal Oct. 26 shooting. According to the source, Aamir’s family took Talasia in to raise as their own when her own family could no longer care for her. She lived with the Griffins for several years, becoming close with Aamir before returning to her own relatives about a year ago. She remained tight with the Griffin family, according to the NYPD source. A bullet fired from more than 100 yards away hit Griffin as he practiced shooting hoops, working on his dream of becoming a professional basketball player. A crowd of 1,000 mourners turned out inside the Greater Allen Cathedral to honor the teen taken away far too soon. Cops believe the shooter’s actual target escaped unscathed. The gunman fired several shots, including the one that killed Aamir, whose aunt referenced the slain youth’s electric personality at his funeral. “If you look to your left, you look to your right, you look behind you ... it’s comforting to know that Aamir was loved and touched by so many people,” said Akiba Griffin in her eulogy. The same beef that killed Griffin was blamed for an Oct. 28 shooting outside a Jamaica Hills charter school that left a 16-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. A 16-year-old suspect was apprehended in the shooting. The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in the Griffin shooting, and anyone with information is urged to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
Teen stabbed to death on Queens sidewalk had lived with family of 14-year-old hoops prodigy slain th
For the second time in three weeks, death knocked on the door of a devastated Queens family. Mortally injured Talasia Cuffie, 17, was found bleeding on a sidewalk in South Jamaica around 10 p.m. Friday, only 21 days after the teen son of the family that helped raise her was killed by a stray bullet in a beef between two local gangs, police sources said Saturday. Advertisement A horrified local resident found Cuffie outside his home on 166th St. near Foch Blvd., bleeding from two stab wounds — one to her lower abdomen, the other in the side of her chest She was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, and police are still seeking for her killer. When she died, Talasia lived with the family of Aamir Griffin, a 14-year-old buried on Nov. 4 after he was felled while playing basketball outside the Baisley Park Houses by a stray bullet police say was fired in an ongoing gang war. In a grim bit of symmetry, Aamir also was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. And his killer also remains on the loose. It was unclear if the two homicides were connected. A high-ranking police source indicated the ties between Cuffie and the Griffin family go back years, with Talasia recently moving back into their home to comfort the clan after Aamir’s fatal Oct. 26 shooting. According to the source, Aamir’s family took Talasia in to raise as their own when her own family could no longer care for her. She lived with the Griffins for several years, becoming close with Aamir before returning to her own relatives about a year ago. She remained tight with the Griffin family, according to the NYPD source. A bullet fired from more than 100 yards away hit Griffin as he practiced shooting hoops, working on his dream of becoming a professional basketball player. A crowd of 1,000 mourners turned out inside the Greater Allen Cathedral to honor the teen taken away far too soon. Cops believe the shooter’s actual target escaped unscathed. The gunman fired several shots, including the one that killed Aamir, whose aunt referenced the slain youth’s electric personality at his funeral. “If you look to your left, you look to your right, you look behind you ... it’s comforting to know that Aamir was loved and touched by so many people,” said Akiba Griffin in her eulogy. The same beef that killed Griffin was blamed for an Oct. 28 shooting outside a Jamaica Hills charter school that left a 16-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. A 16-year-old suspect was apprehended in the shooting. The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in the Griffin shooting, and anyone with information is urged to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
0 Comments