Outside Bronx Latin School on Tuesday, a small crowd of relatives, friends and neighbors gathered on the sidewalk where 16-year-old Evette Jeffrey was shot and killed in a schoolyard last spring. Her mother stood among them, marking one year since the killing and still waiting for a trial date in the case.
Family members released balloons near the walkway behind the school and urged the city to rename the block and approve a mural in Evette’s honor, relatives told News12 New York. More than a year after the May 12, 2025 shooting, the family says they are frustrated that no trial has begun.
Authorities say the shooting unfolded shortly after 5 p.m. on May 12, 2025, when a fight broke out in a walkway behind the Bronx Latin building at Home Street and Tinton Avenue. A 14-year-old allegedly fired three shots into a crowd, and one bullet struck Jeffrey in the head as she tried to take cover, officials told ABC News.
Police later arrested a 14-year-old on suspicion of firing the fatal shot and detained a 13-year-old who allegedly supplied the gun. Authorities say both teens face murder, manslaughter and weapons charges, according to CBS New York. Relatives say that despite the arrests, no trial date has been set, and the slow pace in court has only deepened their grief.
Family Seeks Memorials
“I still look at pictures of my daughter and the last image is of her in a coffin,” Evette’s mother, Kristen Abad, told News12 New York. “It was so full of life before… our house. Now it’s empty,” she said, according to the report.
Relatives said the vigil was about more than remembrance. They described it as a way to keep pressure on elected officials and prosecutors to move the case forward while pushing for a visible neighborhood memorial in Evette’s name.
Officials, Community Respond
After the shooting last year, city leaders visited the scene and offered condolences. Borough officials publicly expressed sympathy and promised steps to improve student safety, according to the Bronx Times.
Neighbors at Tuesday’s vigil said they want to see those broader promises matched with concrete action on the block where Evette died. Residents called for more youth programs and a stronger presence around schoolyards to help head off future violence.
A Wider Pattern
Advocates and officials say Evette’s killing is part of a larger and troubling trend. City reporting has documented a sharp rise in shootings involving young people in parts of the Bronx in recent years. Police and city officials told ABC News that the number of victims under 18 has increased significantly in the borough, a pattern community groups link to easier access to guns and a lack of after-school options.
For Evette’s family, Tuesday’s gathering functioned as both a memorial and a public message that they are still watching the legal process. Local outlets, including the Bronx Times and CBS New York, continue to follow the family’s push for memorials and answers as the case moves through the courts.
