NYC woman Azsia Johnson’s mother, Lisa Desort, called the city out after her daughter was shot execution-style while pushing her three-month-old baby in a stroller on the Upper East Side.
Desort said the city “failed” Johnson because she previously contacted police in January, telling them that her daughter was allegedly being stalked by her child’s father, Isaac Argo. Argo reportedly shot the 20-year-old at point-blank range as she was pushing a stroller near Lexington Avenue and East 95th Street on June 29. When officers arrived at the scene, they found her unconscious and rushed her to Metropolitan Hospital, where she died an hour later. The child survived the tragic incident.
“The city failed my daughter because, on January 1, my daughter called me and said she was being abused while she was six months pregnant,” the grieving mother told reporters. “She was scared to call the police, so she gave me the address, [and] I called [the] police.”
Desort said police responded to ensure her daughter was safe, but they couldn’t seem to find Argo. Johnson eventually initially moved in with her mom and then relocated to a domestic violence shelter in East Harlem to hide from her alleged abuser. She explained that her home wasn’t safe because the 22-year-old knew where she was.
“He kept harassing her and threatening my life and my younger daughter’s life,” the woman added about the young man.
Police arrested Argo without bail over the July 4 weekend and he was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Prosecutors said Johnson’s killing was a “premeditated execution,” as the NYC man allegedly met up with her under the pretense that he wanted to give her items for their three-month-old baby before shooting her. He was reportedly wearing a ski mask at the time.
“My daughter graduated high school with merits, with the inspiration of becoming a pediatric nurse,” Desort said about Johnson, originally from Brownsville, Brooklyn. “She had a child early, and she was the most wonderful mother that you can imagine. She was hard working. She worked every day. She’s got more credit than a 30-, 40-year-old person has. She aspired to have houses and give her children the best of everything.”
