The grandmother of a slain Harlem teenager ripped the woman’s teen boyfriend accused of stabbing her to dying, insisting to The Submit on Tuesday that he was by no means ok for her “stunning” granddaughter.
Saniyah Lawrence, 16, was killed Sunday night time when her baby-faced 18-year-old boyfriend, Zyaire Crumbley, allegedly knifed her within the neck inside an condominium on Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard after which fled, police mentioned.
Hours after Crumbley turned himself in, Lawrence’s paternal grandma, Eileen Lawrence, mentioned she’d all the time had a hunch concerning the boyfriend.
“I met him simply a few months in the past and that was it. I made it a degree to not even trouble assembly him once more,” the grieving grandmother informed The Submit.
“I didn’t suppose he was ok for her.”
Talking after a Tuesday night time memorial service for the murdered teen in Harlem, Eileen Lawrence described her eldest granddaughter as a “stunning particular person.”
“Everybody cherished her. Wherever she went she was like a sunshine,” she mentioned.
“She grew to become a magnet. Individuals simply went to her. Individuals who didn’t know her grew to become her mates and cherished being round her. That’s the type of particular person she was.”
The grandmother added that Lawrence’s grief-stricken father, Justin, was “destroyed” over the teenager’s slaying.
“That’s his firstborn so he’s actually destroyed understanding that is carelessness — there was no want for her to die the best way she did and it’s damaged my son up,” she mentioned.
“My son is actually damaged.”
Crumbley, who has six prior theft arrests to his title, has since been charged together with his girlfriend’s homicide.
He's accused of stabbing Lawrence at about 5.40 p.m. Sunday after the pair obtained into an argument.
Within the moments after the deadly assault, Crumbley was captured on surveillance video fleeing the condominium constructing and happening the run.
Lawrence was rushed to Harlem Hospital the place she was pronounced useless.
Cops subsequently launched a youthful-looking mugshot of Crumbley in a bid to trace him down earlier than he surrendered to cops Monday afternoon.
Whereas neighbors informed The Submit the couple had a historical past of combating, police sources mentioned it didn’t seem that Crumbley had a historical past of home violence with the teenager sufferer.
Nonetheless, home violence advocates had been amongst these to deal with mourners at Lawrence’s vigil Tuesday night time.
“Sadly we're in entrance of you as we speak as a result of we had a mindless crime. We had a baby that was murdered,” mentioned Stephanie McGraw, founder and CEO of the Harlem-based WARM home violence non-profit.
“We will’t eradicate home violence by ourselves. It’s going to take a collective village of all of us saying sufficient is sufficient,” she continued.
“In case you see one thing we wish you to say one thing as a result of what you would possibly say would possibly save a life.”
Roughly 100 individuals attended the vigil the place white balloons had been launched by mourners in honor of the 16-year-old.
Lawrence’s funeral might be held Dec. 20 at Harlem’s Unity Church.
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