Ailing ma mourns slain son
Vic shot visiting old Bronx nabe; no motive or suspects
A Bronx man’s vow to care for his cancer-stricken mom ended on the wrong end of a gun.
“They took my everything,” said weeping mother Margie Revels about the fatal shooting of her son, Terrell Liebert. “My son was my best friend. Me and him went through a lot. ... I’m going to miss him.”
The 26-year-old Liebert was shot multiple times in the lobby of his old Bronx housing project while visiting with relatives who still live there. No arrests have been made and the motive is unclear.
The shooting, the first Bronx homicide of 2020, followed a confrontation pitting Liebert and his 18-year-old cousin against a group of young men, with at least one opening fire about 9:20 p.m. on Sunday in a lobby at the Mott Haven Houses.
“I’m suffering from breast
cancer,” the devastated mom told the Daily News. “He promised to stay with me. He said, ‘Mommy, I’m going to help you through this.’ ”
Liebert, the father of a
3-year-old girl named Egypt, died at Lincoln Hospital. His cousin survived after taking a bullet to his right hand, police said.
Six shell casings were recovered at the scene, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many guns were fired or who the intended targets were.
Police are still seeking seven teenage suspects in the shooting that began as Liebert departed from a visit with relatives in the building where he had lived until moving with his mom 11 years ago to the Tremont neighborhood.
“That was my only child,” Revels, 43, said. “I want to fight this, and I want to know who killed my son.”
The 40th Precinct reported 13 murders in 2020 through Dec. 27, up from 10 homicides over the same stretch of 2019, along with 68 shooting victims compared with 29 a year earlier — an increase of 135%.
The heartbroken Revels recalled her basketball-loving son playing for Martin De Porres High School and his love of video games. Police said he had no arrests on his record.
“My son never did time in jail,” Revels said. “He never lived that life.”
Liebert was a devoted dad who shared a special bond with his daughter, she said. “Whenever they saw each other, they would just glow,” said Revels.
He left their home about 8 p.m. Sunday to visit relatives, and 90 minutes later she received a phone call about the fatal shooting.
“He was loving, caring,” Revels said of her slain son. “He always protected me.”