A tragic incident unfolded when a young man was fatally shot while celebrating his birthday in the Bronx, with his younger brother witnessing the horrifying event and also suffering injuries from the shooter. The devastated mother of the brothers shared this heart-wrenching news on Monday.
Keon Gill, alongside his 25-year-old sibling, had just exited a nightclub located near W. 242nd St. and Broadway in Riverdale when the shooting occurred just before 3 a.m. on Sunday, according to police reports.
“It’s devastating. One son is gone, and the other narrowly escaped the same fate,” expressed their grieving mother, Brenda Gill, aged 68. “This should never have happened.”
Keon, who had turned 44 on the day of the incident, was joyfully celebrating his birthday with his brother and friends in the Bronx, a place he once called home. Although he resided in Middletown, N.Y., in Orange County, roughly 70 miles north, he returned to the city for the occasion, his mother explained.
Brenda recalled her last conversation with Keon on Friday.
“He said, ‘Ma, I’ll see you later. Are you cooking for me on Sunday?'” she remembered. “I replied, ‘Of course, it’s your birthday.’ Then he said, ‘I love you, Ma. Talk to you later.'”
“I never got a chance to say happy birthday, get the cake,” she added.
A fight broke out between the killer and the brothers before shots rang out, police said. Gill, who was shot in the chest, died a short time later at St. Barnabas Hospital. His brother, who was shot in the leg and grazed in the head, survived after being rushed to the same hospital.
The brothers had stopped at a store outside the club and were walking to their car parked near Van Cortlandt Park for the return trip home when they were confronted by the gunman, their mother said.
“The bullet went through his heart and hit the lung and he died,” the mother said of Keon. “It was three bullets. One went through my younger son’s ear and grazed at the top of the head. It’s crazy.”
After being shot, “Keon ran but he took his coat off and he said, ‘Call Mommy, I can’t breathe.’” his mother said. “He fell down. The ambulance came.”
Keon’s wounded brother is now at home recovering.
There have been no arrests. The motive for the shooting remains a mystery.
“He went to a party,” Keon’s mother said. “I’m thinking (the killer’s) trying to rob these boys because they have on nice stuff. You just don’t run around killing people. It’s really not fair to the families … It’s not acceptable.”
Keon was a father of four, two sons and two daughters, who are heartbroken by their father’s death.
“Now I have to bury him,” his mother said. “His kids are asking me, ‘Grandma, why? Grandma please, wake him up.’ I can’t wake him up. I wish I could wake him up. I can’t wake him up.”
Keon was a talented athlete who traveled across the country playing basketball in high school, his ex-wife, who is the mother of his three oldest kids, told the Daily News.
“You have to be good,” the ex-wife, Mahogany Gill, 44, said of his high school career. “You have to definitely be good.”
The victim continued playing ball into adulthood with the YMCA of Middletown men’s league, which honored him after his death with a memorial jersey his team will play with in the coming season.
“Every time we step on the court, every time we compete, every time we come together at the park or the gyms — we carry you with us,” the YMCA men’s league posted on Instagram. “Your initials are on our hearts and now on our jerseys, forever.”
Keon shared his loved of the game with his oldest son, also named Keon, who played basketball for Middletown High School before going on to play college ball at Jarvis Christian College in Texas.
“His son followed him,” said Mahogany. “He has three kids in college.”
The victim dedicated his life to his children, giving up his own college ambitions to raise his kids, his ex-wife said.
“He was going to college and we ended up having kids, so he put them first. … Having kids young, you give up those dreams and opportunities to raise a family,” said Mahogany. “That’s what we did. One thing he wanted to instill in his kids, he wanted them to be better than him and he wanted them to get an education and go to college.”
“They’re so hurt,” she added. “My kids are just devastated. He was a role model to his kids. His kids looked up to him and he looked up to his kids. His kids meant everything to him in this world.”
