Just days before a mother of 13 was killed in front of the Peanut supermarket in Brownsville, a bullet went through the window of the same store, nearly missing a worker inside, according to an employee at the store, who declined to give his name.
Four or five days before the mother’s murder, between the hours of 10 and 11 p.m. a stray bullet that came from outside the store pierced through the supermarket’s side window, the employee said. According to him, another employee was working behind the counter, just in front of the window, but walked away from the counter just before the bullet hit.
A bullet hole is still visible from inside the supermarket, located at 112 Watkins St. on the corner of Pitkin Avenue. No evidence exists to suggest that incident is connected to the murder that occurred later that week.
The outside of that same window is now a memorial to the mother, 34-year-old Zurana Horton of Brownsville, who was murdered Friday afternoon.
Three suspects were arraigned on Wednesday at Brooklyn’s Kings County Criminal Court in connection with the shooting. The violence also left a 31-year-old woman seriously wounded with gunshots to her arm and chest and an 11-year-old girl with a graze wound to her check.
Andrew Lopez, 18, and Jonathan Carrasquillo, 22, were arrested Tuesday and charged with 2nd degree murder, two counts of felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon. A third suspect, 17-year-old Kristian Lopez, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the same incident, police said.
The Daily News reported that, according to its sources, Andrew Lopez confessed to the shootings after his arrest, telling police that the killings were not intentional. According to police, Lopez was a former drug dealer and a gang member who was shooting at rival gang members from his apartment building roof at 1800 Pitkin Ave., the report said.
All three suspects have addresses for that same Pitkin Avenue building, said police.
During the day Wednesday people continued to stop and look at the memorial to Horton just off of one of Brownsville’s main commercial streets.
As some of these people quietly read the words praising Horton, they declined to comment on the shooting.
These words, left on the outside of the Peanut supermarket’s bullet-damaged window, are a mix of calls to end the violence, such as “Stop: put the guns down,” and words of praise for the murdered mother who many are calling a hero.
According to police, Horton and the 31-year-old victim were picking up their children from PS 298, at 85 Watkins Street, just diagonally across the street from Peanut supermarket.
Moments before Horton was killed, she was seen shielding several children to protect them from the gunshots.
Although others didn’t want to discuss their reaction to the arrests, the Peanut employee, who was working at the market on the day of the murder, said that people in the neighborhood seem more relaxed now that the suspects have been charged.
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