Brooklyn, NY - Someone with a gun opened fire on a Brooklyn street as students were let out of school Friday afternoon, killing pregnant Zurana Horton who had 13 children and one on the way and injuring two others.
From Zurana's Myspace Page with the quote "This is me of 2011 I like my new look this year I change my way"
Zurana Horton, 34, gave her life to hover over children to protect them from harm when gunfire rang out around 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon outside Peanut Lucky Supermarket on Pitkin Avenue and Watkins (112 Watkins Street) diagonally across the street from the back of P.S. 298 school in the Brownsville section, of New York where students had just been dismissed 13 minutes earlier.
A family friend holding Zurana's photo
After being struck in the face and chest Zurana was pronounced dead at the scene. A 31-year-old woman was hit in an arm and the chest and was hospitalized along with 11 year old Cheanne McKnight, 11, who also sustained a graze wound to the cheek. Both were being treated at Brookdale Hospital.
Zurana Horton is being regarded as a hero after police said she was seen hovering over several children to protect them as the shots were fired.
“As soon as we crossed the street, they started shooting,” said a cousin of slain Zurana Horton, 34, a mother of 13 who had just picked up one of her children from the school.
Horton grabbed her child and several others, and put herself in front of them “to protect them as the shots were fired,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
“The gunfire was everywhere. We couldn’t move. There was nowhere to go. We didn’t know where the bullets were coming from,” said Horton’s cousin.
As Horton lay dead, the shot 11-year-old, Cheanne McKnight, “kept screaming, ‘They shot me in the face! They shot my face!’ ” said her aunt, Ximinia Fernandez.
“I didn’t know if she was OK — I just saw a big hole in her face,” Fernandez said at Brookdale Hospital, where she drove the sixth- grader after the shooting.
“That poor little girl. I was so scared for her,” she said. “I lied and told her it was gonna be OK. I had no idea when I saw the blood all over her sweatshirt … We’re gonna find whoever did this and there’s gonna be another news story soon.”
McKnight’s mother, Harriet, told CBS 2′s Derricke Dennis that her daughter is alive thanks to Horton.
“She could have been dead. Thank God it was just her face,” Harriet McKnight said. “She knew what happened, her face hurt. She said it felt like a rock hit her.”
Family and friends in the Horton’s Brownsville apartment said she loved children, and would do anything to protect them. So when the gunfire erupted, she used her body as a shield.
The Brownsville area is known for gang violence. It is also known as the area where tens of thousands of people, mostly black and Hispanic men, are stopped, questioned and frisked annually by police in order to prevent incidents like this from happening.
Two suspects are being questioned by the police and 3 other suspects are being sought. A $12,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the individuals responsible.
At least 12 shots were fired. Seven shell casings from a 9mm semi-automatic pistol were found on the nearby rooftop. Five other shell casings were found on the sidewalk in the front of that building, police said.
Witnesses also told 1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan that there has been a long-running dispute between two housing projects.
“It’s Howard Houses against Glenmore — every other day, gangs against gangs. That’s why I pulled my children out, so they could be safe from this,” one woman told Sheridan.
This is so horrible. Some people just have very little regard for human life these days. It is indeed quite sickening. I report about so much violence in New York. City of Dreams, city of a lot of violent endings..
VIDEO
source: NYPost
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Tragic.
SAD!!!!! god bless her family
Many of the elites think so, too; only animals and proles are free.
Jesus
Jesus
That is so sad! OAN: 13 kids, dam, now who’s gonna raise all those kids? IJS
That is so sad! OAN: 13 kids, dam, now who’s gonna raise all those kids? IJS
Oh<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3RIP
Oh<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3RIP
and not to forget dont you have family planning in the US?
and not to forget dont you have family planning in the US?
People sicken me.
People sicken me.
People sicken me.
So tragic…God bless her kids. Hope she wasn’t a single mother..Kissy don’t like single mother’s and there bastard children. Right Kissy??
So tragic…God bless her kids. Hope she wasn’t a single mother..Kissy don’t like single mother’s and there bastard children. Right Kissy??
So tragic…God bless her kids. Hope she wasn’t a single mother..Kissy don’t like single mother’s and there bastard children. Right Kissy??
Please pray for those children. Something like this can derail one of their paths.
Please pray for those children. Something like this can derail one of their paths.
Please pray for those children. Something like this can derail one of their paths.
My God… 13 kids are motherless. I agree with Kissy. Having children is a serious life changing respondsability. That too many to have in a neighborhood like that. We gotta be proactive when it comes to protecting our family. God bless her though kids went home because of her courage.
@ Kissy you should go look up “COLOR OF CHANGE.ORG”, and help promote black awareness…just a suggestion because stuff like this happens every hour;(
KeKe I checked out that website.. Thanks
SUNDANCE, where did that come from?
Its mordifying that so many of our sistas and brothas are losing there lives to some of these ignorant savages that walk the streets on a daily basis. Living in the hood is like living in Afghanistan nowadays. You never know which way bullets are gonna go. We here in America say that there are terrorists that threaten our country but our own civilians are terrorists to our communities. They take the lives of men, women, and children every second of the day. I’m so tired of seeing my black sistas and brothers dying out here senselessly to these “niggas” bcuz thats what they are, ignorant and no regard for human lives. They are simply killing each other for no reasons at all. Then pple wonder why so many of us get a couple dollars and stray from our upbringings. When will we learn that we are our worst enemies and we as a pple will never progress with this kind of savage living. I just pray that this sista has a support system w/ family and friends that will raise her children bcuz without that, they will grow up to be another statistic like the bastards who viciously murdered their mother. May God bless have mercy on her soul and bless the children and family. So sad!!!
SHONTA, that is exactly what I was thinking.. It’s a war zone.. YET people in the hood want to have more kids to raise in the hood. It makes no sense… SMH
I Rarely Watch The News & I Don’t Read The Newspapers… I Get My News On MSN Homepage Internet or Facebook.
Rest In Peace Zurana Horton…
Sundance, I think you may have misconstrued an unwillingness to choose a certain path as dislike. I don’t think Kissy dislikes single mothers or their kids. But let’s be real….I myself am a single parent and often times I find myself thinking how my life would be if I’d made better choices…in education,choosing a mate, etc. Our society really needs to stop lashing out at people that choose a different path…as being uppity or out of touch with their “roots”. I believe that they are so “in touch with their roots” that they choose to stop the cycle of ignorance, illiteracy and poverty and better themselves.
I feel for the mother so much, but 13 kids wow. Kissy I agree with you about the kids issue, we have to have a plan in life whether its lifestyle, financial or other so having kids you can’t afford is irresponsible. Some don’t want to hear that but its true what are those kids going to do now, what quality of life will they have.
@SunDance Byrd ~ I Read Kissy’s Facebook Daily & I NEVER Read Where She Doesn’t Like Single Mothers & Their Bastard Children… That’s A Little Strong To Be Calling Kids “Bastards”.
I don’t know where all this single parent talk and me disliking single parents talk comes from. I just think it’s crazy that poor people have kids that they know they can’t afford to spoil. I mean ok, you get pregnant once and after that you see how expensive kids are.. Kids are supposed to motivate you to do better.
I guess some people are missing something in their brain that makes them feel bad about raising their kids in poverty watching them go without and all the other kids have.
But like they say most of us would not be here if not for our poor parents having us.. I just think people should really strive to do better when they are bringing kids in the world.
What type of brain cell is ok with watching your kid not have? It’s NOT ok to be poor.
Like people are breeding their kids in war zones and quick to talk about their morals and what they won’t do to survive.. SMH
Kissy, I and many other educated, intelligent people are on the same page with you! You are exactly right….why bring kids into a life that they will likely not survive or not benefit from? The definition of insanity is to keep doing something the same way and expecting different results. Well why would you see your mother, grandmother, aunts, sisters, female friends etc..be not educated, choose losers as mates, have multiple children out of wed-lock. Then either not work or not be qualified to gain lucrative employment, to care for these kids..think that their life would be any different than yours? #Insanity!
@Kissy… what you are missing is what you determine to be poor is not what most folks in low income areas deemed to be poor. How many times have you spoken to a female in the projects.. receiving very reduced rent, food stamps, medicaid, wic and other subsidizes call themselves poor? Thats were the breakdown occurs YOU deem them to be poor but they dont see themselves as poor. Yes they live under the poverty level or a part of the working poor but THEY do not consider themselves poor.. So its a mentality thing and YOU will never understand it! Plus how many times have you heard women who depend on the system for everything say their child wants for nothing… I provide them with everything. They got Jordon’s, latest clothes, X box, Playstation 10.. so do you see the disconnect in the two different thinkings? Trust me I am not saying their thinking is correct.. these are just my clients and I had to understand their thinking to assist. You also have to understand you see a problem with this…. they dont. SO if you cant see that something is a problem you continue to participate in the same types of behavior.
Kissy, we are definitely all entitled to our opinion. Im a first generation college student. I am unmarried, I have no children, and I made sure to take every precaution to not bring children into this world until I am ready. I did this WITHOUT ABORTION AS AN OPTION. It seems as if you have an elitist attitude towards poor people. I see you said “our poor parents having us” which means, your mother chose to have you and you seem to function well. However, although we are all entitled to our opinions and we try to make our lives “better” than what we had growing up and once children come into the equation, Im absolutely positive that every single mother wants the best for her child.
Am I partly right in saying that your family may have had to struggle some? That you had to work hard to get to where you are? Which is okay, because most people get up everyday and work hard to improve their quality of life.That you were once poor and you never want to be poor again? Make sure when you spoil your children that you teach them humility and humiliation, because if they have to learn it the hard way, believe me, its going to be hard.Don’t forget to teach them morals, values, respect, to be God fearing and most importantly, try not to teach your children to think they are better than anybody, BUT TEACH THEM TO STRIVE FOR GREATNESS. You may want to volunteer. Do you have any causes you support? You have and make some good points, however, your hatred towards poor people is ignorant, narrow minded and may stem from your something from your own childhood that you may want to go sit on somebody’s couch and talk about. I agree, when you know better, you do better. Spoiling children with material things is a waste if you don’t teach them the value and quality of life in and for others. You seem to have lost that, or maybe you never had it. You should thank God for breathing life into you and your poor parents for making the decision to keep you.
I agree with you in some part about public assistance and what it has evolved to. I know many women who use and abuse the system and have continue to have children just to obtain more assistance from the state and have children because they are trying to keep a man, think the man is cute, or just want and/or need someone to love. But in this particular posting, why are earth would you post this story and be so heartless and cruel and narcissistic to always have to get your point across. This woman DIED not just PROTECTING HER OWN CHILD, BUT DO YOU REALIZE SHE DIED PROTECTING SOMEONE ELSES CHILD TOO!? You realize she gave up her LIFE for CHILDREN!! With no hesitation this PREGNANT, selfless courageous woman’s life ended so that those children’s lives wouldn’t. What if this woman was in a store in Henderson let’s say, because thats a pretty decent family friendly neighborhood in Nevada, and some psycho held the store up and started shooting everyone, children included and your in your car and you can do nothing to save your child, and this poor woman does, is she still the crap on your shoe? She has more richness in morals, values, love, and respect for humanity then you ever will. You need a reality check Ms Kissy. STOP thinking you smell like strawberries when you close the door & sit, when you walk out that bathroom, you smell just like the rest of us.
Correction: Why on earth
You no longer receive extra money when you have a child and in most states they have time limited amounts in which they give you actual cash money. You can continue to receive housing, foodstamps etc but no money
You no longer receive extra money when you have a child and in most states they have time limited amounts in which they give you actual cash money. You can continue to receive housing, foodstamps etc but no money
only 34 with 13 kids and one on the way…WOW