Woman’s Dying Words Lead Police to The Suspect in Her Stabbing
A Harlem family is mourning the loss of their beloved Shirley Rodriguez who police say was fatally stabbed outside her building this week. Relatives were able to get to her before she lost complete consciousness. However, they say she used her last few breaths to name the stabbing suspect.
On Monday morning, Rodriguez’s family first heard screaming outside their apartment building on West 172nd and Haven Ave. and then the rapid buzzing of the callbox. When they peered outside, they saw 29-year-old Rodriguez covered in blood and immediately rushing downstairs, per the NY Daily News.
“She was calling for help. She said, ‘Dad, dad, hurry. Come downstairs.’ So I threw something on and I went downstairs with a kitchen knife because obviously something was up. I ran down the stairs and it was just a bloody scene. And my daughter was standing there with a big gash on her face,” Henry Rodriguez told the NY Daily News.
Luckily, according to reports, an Uber which had been called to take Rodriguez, a lab technician, to work, was at the scene and caught the attackon video. The driver and neighbors told local NY reporters they saw a mysterious man dressed in black fleeing the scene. Authorities from the New York Police Department say neighbors tried to chase him down but to no avail.
Paramedics eventually arrived on the scene though, Rodriguez’s injuries to her face and head were too extensive. However, her sister told reporters, Rodriguez uttered the words, “It was Ty.” She was then rushed to Harlem Hospital where she was pronounced dead, per ABC 7 News.
“Ty” is a nickname for Tyquan Jemmott, Rodriguez’s 33-year-old ex-boyfriend, according to the NY Daily News. The couple met on social media. Family members said they liked Ty, but the couple had recently broken up because Ty wouldn’t give Rodriguez, a lab technician, space. The last straw was when he accused her of having a new social media follower and she blocked him, relatives told the NY Daily News.
“Who else could’ve done it? Unless it was some random person. He was harassing her. I wasn’t surprised,” said Tibby, Rodriguez’s sister.
Police said they located him at an uncle’s home in the Bronx that evening. He was eventually charged with murder and weapon possession.
