A St. John's University student who was killed during J'Ouvert festivities in Brooklyn, N.Y., had reportedly told a man to stop grinding against her, police said Tuesday, according to the New York Post.
According to the report, 22-year-old Tiarah Poyau was walking the J'Ouvert route with three friends when she was accosted by a man. Poyau told the man to "get off me," the source told the Post.
Her friends, who were walking ahead of her, heard a shot and saw her fall in the street. The source told the Post that Poyau was shot in the eye "at close range."
“This young lady is just a stellar person,” Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. “No issues in her life whatsoever, and none before, either.”
The suspect in her shooting, identified as Reginald Moise, 20, was taken into custody after being found drunkenly driving with a flag wrapped around a bloodied hand, officials say.
Moise allegedly told his friends about the shooting, saying, "I think I shot somebody on the parade route. I didn't know the gun was loaded."
The Post reports that Moise has five sealed prior arrests. After the shooting, Moise fled to his girlfriend's apartment, authorities said.
“He makes a phone call directly after the shooting and tells a friend of his, ‘Would you mind if I put my gun into your apartment?’ ” Boyce said.
A drunken Moise then fired two rounds into a mirror at the girl's house, injuring his hand, authorities say. One of the bullets went into the home of a neighbor, who called police.
Moise then fled the scene in his vehicle, crashing into several parked cars and losing a wheel before he was finally stopped by police.
Cops who responded to the shooting call at the girlfriend's apartment found the weapon that was used to kill Poyau, officials say.
“On the scene, we find an aluminum-jacket 9-mm. It’s not particularly common, but we’ve seen them before,” Boyce said.
“This aluminum-jacket 9-mm is also at the crime scene on Empire Boulevard. We start to get suspicious. We then send it down to the lab, and they make the comparison. It’s the same gun," he added.
Boyce said that when detectives began talking to Moise, he stated that he thought he shot someone.
Moies is facing charges of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. However, a family member told the Post that Moise was merely in "the wrong place at the wrong time."
“The real killer is still on the loose. They have the wrong person,” the relative said, according to the Post.
Authorities are still investigating the death of another person killed during J'Ouvert festivities, 17-year-old Tyreke Borel.
Read more at the New York Post.