Brooklyn man sentenced to 41 years in prison for fatally shooting teenage girl
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced yesterday that a 26-year-old man was sentenced to 41 years in prison for firing a single shot with a submachine rifle, killing 16-year-old Shemel Mercurius. The victim was inside an apartment in East Flatbush babysitting her 3-year-old cousin at the time of the 2016 shooting.
Gonzalez said, “This defendant will now spend many years behind bars for the callous killing of an innocent teenage girl who was taken from her loved ones far too early, and for undoubtedly traumatizing the toddler she was babysitting. Nothing can bring Shemel back to her devastated family, but I hope that today’s sentence will afford them a small measure of solace.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Taariq Stephens, 26, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Deborah Dowling to 41 years in state prison following his conviction last month of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child after a jury trial.