A Brooklyn family is shattered after a dispute among neighbors Sunday night ended with a man and his stepson fatally shot outside the front door of their home, according to police and the man’s wife.
“The guy killed my family, the only family I have,” said Marie Luc Delille, the wife of 47-year-old victim Bladimy Mathurin and mother of 27-year-old victim Chin Wai Mode, inside the family’s apartment Monday morning.
Police said the argument between the alleged shooter and victims turned deadly around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. Officers responded to a 911 call about a man shot in an East Flatbush building on Brooklyn Avenue near Foster Avenue.
On arrival, the officers found the two men with fatal gunshot wounds after an apparent verbal dispute with a neighbor, according to the NYPD.
The man allegedly fled the scene and had not been arrested as of mid-Monday afternoon, though police confirmed the victims’ identities.
Delille said her husband was a devoted father who loved bodybuilding. She said he drove a school bus by day, had a side job driving for Uber, and sought to teach his children the value of hard work.
She said the alleged shooter lives in the building and has antagonized her family since they moved into the building in 2018.
According to Delille, the situation came to a head Sunday night, when the neighbor came to her family’s door and tried to kick it in. She said her husband went outside to confront the neighbor, who then took out a gun.
“I can hear a voice telling me, ‘Go, get inside,’” she recalled. “While I’m turning my back on him, he shot my husband.”
Delille said she hadn’t realized her oldest son was also in the hallway and had been shot. Her 10-year-old daughter told Gothamist on Monday that she heard the gunshots from inside the apartment. When she looked out the door, she said she saw her father on the floor — and Mode dying near the staircase. Gothamist is withholding her name because she is a minor.
Delille, who has four children, said she works in a nearby hospital and nursing home and currently attends nursing school. She said she has always tried to protect her children.
“The pain is so hard,” she told Gothamist through tears. “I don't know if I can survive.”
Just outside the family’s door on Monday morning, a deep pool of blood marked the spot where Mathurin, Delille’s husband, had died. A similar pool across the hallway revealed where Mode, her son, was killed, sparking shock from neighbors who tiptoed around it to get down the steps.
Delille’s ex-husband and Mode’s father, Mike Felix, had come to support the family through the crisis. “He’s still on the loose,” he said of the alleged shooter. “I can’t let them stay here by themselves.”
As of mid-Monday afternoon, police had not identified a suspect yet.
Neighbors interviewed by Gothamist expressed horror at the fatal shooting and said it made them think about leaving the building.
“It’s terrible, heart-wrenching,” said Lidell Robinson, who lives on the same floor as Delille’s family. “I’m moving out. I’m not going to take it here now. I don't want this. I’m sick, I have nerve [problems], I have heart problems.”
The 67th precinct, which includes East Flatbush, has seen eight other fatal shootings this year, according to data from the NYPD compiled by Gothamist. Homicides and shooting incidents have both declined in the precinct compared to last year, with homicides down over 30% and shooting incidents down almost 20%, NYPD data shows.
Leonard Hayes, another neighbor, said he heard shots in the hallway Sunday night and then looked through his front door’s peephole, only to discover a body slumped on the floor.
“We just moved here recently,” he said “He was in front of his door. You’re supposed to be safe in your home.”
This story has been updated. Andrew Giambrone contributed reporting.
