Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that a Bronx woman has been arraigned on an indictment in which she is charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting her ex-girlfriend outside a Park Slope deli in a mid-day ambush caught on surveillance video.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This broad-daylight shooting tragically cut short the life of a beloved mother and a treasured member of a local neighborhood and faith-based community. The horrific violence this defendant allegedly committed was shocking and senseless. I encourage anyone experiencing violence or abuse at the hands of an intimate partner or a former partner to contact the trained counselors of our Victim Services Unit at 718-250-3820.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Latisha Bell, 39, of Grand Concourse, in the Bronx. She was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic on an indictment in which she is charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The defendant was ordered held without bail and to return to court on July 19, 2021. She faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on April 21, at approximately 1 p.m., the defendant allegedly approached Nichelle Thomas, 52, from behind as she entered a deli at the corner of Saint Marks Place and Fourth Avenue in Park Slope and fatally shot her once in the back of the head.
Thomas was a mother of two and a grandmother who was in graduate school to become a social worker. She was also a prominent and active member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Clinton Hill. She died at New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
A few hours after the shooting, the defendant turned herself in at the New York City Police Department’s 78th Precinct where police recovered the .38 caliber revolver the defendant allegedly used in the shooting.
Surveillance video from outside the deli allegedly shows the defendant approach the victim from behind and open fire execution-style at close range.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Elaine Albenda, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaminsky, Bureau Chief.