Girl, 16, shot dead after New York playground fight, family say

A 16-year-old girl from Queens who was shot in the head after a fight in a playground earlier this month has died, the teenager’s aunt confirmed on Tuesday.

Claudia Quaatey – who was shot on the evening of May 10 while sitting in an SUV outside Locust Manor Park in St. Albans – spent time on life support before dying of her serious injuries, said her aunt, Benita Bortey, told the Post.

“Claudia suffered a severe brain injury and was placed on life support,” Bortey wrote in a GoFundMe page, aiming to raise money to cover the slain teenager’s funeral, medical and other expenses. “Claudia fought for her life with her loved ones by her side, hoping and praying for a miracle. Claudia sadly succumbed to her injury.

The exact day of his death is unclear and will be determined by the city medical examiner’s office, Bortey said.

“The family is now charged with putting Claudia to rest and standing firm in their fight to get justice for Claudia,” she wrote at the fundraiser.

Quaatey had just settled a dispute with another group of girls when the shots rang out, police said.

Now the cops are trying to determine if the previous scuffle had something to do with the shooting or if the teenager was just an innocent bystander.

“She had fought,” her father Albert Quaatey, 65, said at the family home the day after the shooting, while his daughter was still hospitalized in an induced coma. “My daughter, she is not in fights like that. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“The police don’t have much to say other than it was an angry meeting, that’s all,” said Quaatey, a construction worker from Ghana. “So she’s brain dead.”

Three gunmen fired “several” 9mm rounds – in what law enforcement believed was part of a gang-related dispute – before fleeing and remaining at large.

No arrests had been made in the case as of Tuesday.

Quaatey said her daughter dreams of becoming a nurse and enjoys braiding hair for her friends – and told her she was about to when she was shot while sitting in a Hyundai SUV, which was parked near the park and outside PS 015 Jackie Robinson Elementary School, police said.

“Usually, I tell her, on school days, I don’t want her to go out,” her father said. “It wasn’t late, but still. They always called me old school, but there are those kinds of issues. Too many young people are being killed. I tried, but how much can you do? »

Claudia is one of six siblings and has been described by her father as “very loving”.

“Claudia was a sophomore at Queens High School of Teaching and a beloved member of the Jamaican community in Queens,” her aunt said on the fundraising page.

“In her spare time, Claudia enjoyed running on the track, dancing, doing her hair, and spending time with family and friends. She was an aspiring nurse and was always compassionate to others,” Bortey wrote.

“Claudia was always the first to offer help when needed.”