Man, 23, charged with murder after Harlem grandmother killed in crossfire

Suspect in shooting of Harlem grandmother arrested

Police say a 23-year-old man has been charged in connection to the fatal shooting of 61-year-old Excenia Mette in Harlem last week. Ricky Shelby surrendered to police Monday morning and was has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

HARLEM - A man was arrested and charged with murder after a Harlem grandmother was fatally shot last week while standing on the sidewalk, the NYPD said.

According to police, Ricky Shelby, 23, of the Bronx, was charged with murder in the second degree, among other charges. Darious Smith, 23, was arrested last week and charged with attempted murder.

The backstory:

The shooting happened on Tuesday around 10:20 p.m. along Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem. Officers say two groups were firing at each other when 61-year-old Excenia Mette was struck by a bullet while standing on the sidewalk.

Mette, a resident of the block where the shooting occurred, was shot in the head. She was transported to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Police say Mette was caught in the middle of gunfire between two groups, and she was not the intended target.

What they're saying:

Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Eric Adams condemned the shooting during a press conference, blaming recidivism and calling attention to violent repeat offenders.

"No one expects coming from a store, beauty salon, or visiting a loved one to have notification that they lost a loved one due to this senseless violence," Adams said. "But again, the action of repeated offenders—just last year stabbing two people, doing a robbery—is now involved in a shooting that took the life of a working-class person here in the city."