A 24-year-old man waits to be arraigned Friday on a murder charge for allegedly fatally shooting a teenage girl in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.
Taariq Stephens, 24, is being held inside the 67th police precinct station house in Flatbush. He has been there all night long after he turned himself into police Thursday night.
Investigators had searched for Stephens since Tuesday night after 16-year-old Shemel Mercurius was shot and killed in East Flatbush.
Officials said Mecurius was babysitting her three-year-old cousin inside her aunt's apartment when the shooting happened.
Police said Mecurius, who named Stephens as the shooter right before she died, was shot several times with a .40-caliber sub-machine gun as her terrified cousin looked on.
Authorities said the surveillance video (seen in the video above) shows Stephens taking an elevator inside the Flatbush Gardens apartment building Tuesday.
Police said Stephens got off and forced his way into this apartment.
Mecurius was a native of Guyana, and a student at Edward R. Murrow High School. Those who knew and loved her said she was a great and nice girl and a good student who hoped to one day become a nurse.
"I knew her since middle school and we both went to the same middle school and back when she knew me at Murrow she was like, 'Oh, I know you, you're that crazy kid back at Whitman,' and that was like one of the most funniest memories that I knew, so it's kind of sad," said one classmate.
"If it was someone I knew I would be really devastated to lose a friend especially at such a young age like she was one year younger than me, it hurts to know that someone that young lost a life," said another.
Mecurius's family came face-to-face with Stephens on Friday as officers brought the handcuffed suspect out of the precinct and to Brooklyn Criminal Court. The family did not speak to Stephens and he did not say anything to them.
Police said Stephens, when he turned himself in Thursday night, did not say anything and did not have an attorney, although he does have one now.
Police said this was not Stephens's first brush with the law; he had been arrested six other times for other crimes.
Police originally thought Stephens and Mecurius had a romantic relationship, but now say that was not the case.
"We don't think it was a romantic relationship," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "However, he does get in there. He does know her, we think about two weeks prior."
Mecurius's family said it does not know Stephens at all.
"I've never seen the person," said Dexter Mecurius, Shemel's father. "I've never seen this person in the neighborhood. So, they wanted to see if I know this guy, but honestly I've never known this guy, never seen this guy. So, I wanted to know why this guy killed my daughter, because my daughter is 16 and this guy is 24."
Police said the motive for the shooting is still unclear and they have not recovered the weapon.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the teen's family cover her funeral expenses and set up a scholarship in her name.
Friday morning, Stephens is due back in court, where he will be officially charged with Mecurius's death. He faces second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges.