B’klyn pa, S.I. grandpa among weekend’s vics
While the sight of his baby girl made Jahrell Gause light up, he’ll never get a chance to watch her grow up.
Two-year-old Harmony and her heartbroken mother were left behind after the 21-year-old Brooklyn father was shot and killed outside a building during a weekend explosion of violence, police said.
“He was a happy soul, one of a kind, the life of the party,” said Harmony’s mom, Treisy Fuentes, 19, as she wept Tuesday over Gause’s violent demise. “Smiling and always ready to go to war for his own. … He was always happy with [Harmony], just a great father. She knows he is hers, and that he loves her.”
Three hours after Gause (left at top) was killed on a carnage-riddled Sunday, a beloved 45-year-old Staten Island grandfather was gunned down inside a building in the Stapleton Houses after a pointless argument escalated to bloodshed.
“Cowards took his life,” said Ramonita Basabe, 55, a cousin of the slain Moleik Beverly (right at top).
“It was just an altercation … senseless. He was a lovable person, and it’s a tragedy. He didn’t deserve this.”
The families and friends of both victims were left to mourn men who departed while leaving a legacy of sweet memories.
No arrests were made in either of the fatal shootings, two of the city’s nine homicide victims on Sunday.
In a cruel twist, Gause was killed three years after his best friend was fatally shot. Gause made sure to keep Luiz Ortiz Jr.‘s memory alive, holding an annual remembrance of his friend, including an event last year to mark the dead man’s 21st birthday.
“You’d always seeing him doing positive stuff for the community,” recalled Ortiz’s dad, Luis Sr. “Trying to stay out of trouble. But gun violence, Man — it can take anyone. He was hilarious and outgoing and awesome to be around, man.”
Beverly, an ex-con, was recalled as a self-educated and peace-loving man who kept himself in great shape. A memorial with yellow balloons sprang up quickly in his honor.
“He was loved by many,” said Basabe.
“I’ve know him since he was a kid, so where do you want me to start? He was running around, playing baseball. He was very smart, very gentle. He was quiet. He got along with everybody.”
Neighbor Monique Small recalled the victim as the kind of guy who helped people carry their groceries or swept up outside local businesses in return for a cup of coffee.
“He was always helping people in the community,” she recalled. “He was a good guy.”
A third victim, 19-year-old Nahjan Ellis, was identified Tuesday as the man gunned down at 4:22 a.m. Sunday in Brooklyn.
Ellis, with a gunshot wound to the chest, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital after a violent attack in which a 27year-old man survived a bullet through the shoulder.