An 18-year-old Brooklyn woman was fatally shot in the head after she and a friend were playing with a loaded gun while recording TikTok videos, police said on Tuesday.
Authorities responded to a 911 call on May 4 at around 2:46 a.m. They discovered Adriana Graham fatally wounded in the lobby of the Harding Arms Apartments in Crown Heights, the Daily News reported.
Medics rushed Graham, who was in critical condition, to Kings County Hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries on Friday.
Detectives investigating the case believed the 18-year-old and her friend were playing with the loaded gun moments before the weapon fired. However, there have been no arrests, and the NYPD has classified her death as a homicide.
Graham’s older sister, India Washington, expressed her concerns to the outlet and the reports surrounding her younger sister’s death.
“Where is that coming from?” she asked. “It’s very inaccurate. She was scheduled to graduate this year. She was a great student. I would like there to be justice for her.”
She continued, “We don’t know exactly what happened,” her older sister India Washington told the Daily News. “No one will understand what we’re going through unless it was your family. I just pray.”
Susan Semple, 36, a Harding Arms Apartments resident, told the outlet that teens often hang out in the lobby even if they do not reside in the apartment complex.
“They hang out too much in this building,” Semple said about the. 18-year-old’s death. “I’m very saddened by what happened.”
Graham attended W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School in East New York and was scheduled to graduate next month with her high school diploma.
Friends and family took to social media to mourn the loss of Graham as some turned to TikTok and posted videos of a balloon vigil; others shared thoughtful posts of the Brooklyn native.
Washington said she didn’t know what Graham was doing in a neighborhood she described as “worse than the projects.” The grieving sister spoke highly of her sister while trying to understand how the shooting occurred.
“She had a wonderful life, always happy and smiling,” said Washington.
“It’s the how and the why that upsets me. It’s really messed up.”
