Bullet fells ‘bookworm’
‘I thought he was safe’: ma in Brooklyn shoot
A 16-year-old boy shot and killed on a Brooklyn streetcorner was on his way home from a weekend party and had stopped to buy something in a store, his mother said Monday.
Nayshawn Campbell’s mother is convinced the single bullet that ended the “always smiling” teen’s life was intended for someone else.
“He was mistaken for someone else,” Latiema Edwards, 34, told the Daily News. “I know it wasn’t for him. I know that in my soul. That bullet was not for my son. He’s not that type of child. He’s not in a gang.”
Cops found Nayshawn sprawled out on the street outside Brownsville’s Langston Hughes NYCHA complex near Sutter Ave. and Osborn St. about 3:15 a.m. Saturday. He was with a cousin when he was shot.
Medics rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died from a bullet wound to his torso.
Nayshawn, a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, had dreams of becoming an architect and loved dancing and playing basketball.
His mother, who works as a hairstylist and home health aide, said she always tried to give her son freedom to enjoy his life.
“I just know he was coming from a party and he was going to the corner store,” Edwards said. “His cousin said someone walked by, or it was a car. It was one shot, just one, and it hit him while he was going into the store.”
Cops have made no arrests and are unsure if Nayshawn was the intended target.
Edwards said she never thought her son was in danger.
“He just liked to be out with his cousins,” Edwards said. “He doesn’t carry weapons. He’s not a street demon. He was my bookworm. I let him enjoy his life, and he always came home. He’s always safe. I thought he was safe that night, too.”
Edwards said Nayshawn’s death was the ultimate wakeup call for her and the city.
“It’s senseless gun violence, it needs to stop,” Edwards said. “I know my baby went to sleep so the world could wake up. You have to be careful who you’re with, where you’re walking.”
In Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct, homicides are down 22% so far this year, with seven victims through Sunday compared with nine by the same point last year. Shootings are down 5%, with 35 victims so far this year compared with 37 during the same period last year.
Citywide, murders are down 13% this year through Sunday, with 197 victims compared with 226 during the same time frame last year. Shootings in the five boroughs have declined 9%, with 747 victims compared with 817 by this time last year.
Relatives have launched a GoFundMe drive to help with Nayshawn’s funeral expenses. In the meantime, Edwards said she is trying comfort her two younger girls.
“I just have to keep my strength because I know my other babies need it,” she said.