From: News and Views | Crime File |
Thursday, April 11, 2002
Granny Slain After Church
Prayed for peace,
then hit by stray shots in B'klyn
By AUSTIN FENNER and BILL HUTCHINSON
Daily News Staff Writers
t the age of 66, Gloria Aiken-Logan had seen too much violence in the world, and she prayed daily that her three grandchildren could someday live in peace.
But after praying one last time Tuesday night at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn, the Bible-toting churchgoer walked innocently into the middle of violence, and it cost her her life.
It happened seconds after she stepped off a city bus at 9:30 p.m., around the corner from her Bedford-Stuyvesant home.
Gloria Aiken-Logan
Shots rang out, and her knees buckled as a bullet ripped into the back of her head. Another shot tore through her neatly pressed dress and lodged in her lower back.
She died shortly after arriving at Woodhull Hospital by ambulance.
"This was a terrible tragedy of a woman who was not involved in the dispute at all. She was just getting off a bus," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who vowed to hunt down the killers.
Cops said the shooting may have been the result of a drug dispute. Several pieces of crack cocaine were found among 9-mm. shell casings at the crime scene on Throop Ave.
The gunplay also left Trevor Herne, 24, of North Babylon, L.I., with a bullet wound to his leg.
A police source said that because Herne apparently was a target of the shooting, he might give cops their best chance at finding the gunmen.
"The individual who was shot, we believe, was involved in the dispute," said Kelly. "We have some leads in that case. We are following up on those leads."
Weekend Reunion
On Saturday, Aiken-Logan had prepared a traditional West Indian dinner of curried chicken and rice for a joyful family reunion she organized at her Quincy St. house.
Yesterday, her family reunited in sorrow to plan her funeral — and reminisce about the jovial spirit that glued them together.
"We had a beautiful weekend together. She was so humorous, she had everyone laughing," said Aiken-Logan's sister Janette McFarlane, 52, of Washington.
McFarlane said the senseless violence that claimed her sister's life was the type of behavior that drove her to pray. She said her sister attended the Kingdom Hall on Madison St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant at least three times a week to pray, not only for her family, but for peace in the war-torn areas around the world that she would read about in the newspapers.
"She talked about the violence. She wondered when it was going to be a peaceful world," said McFarlane, as tears streaked her cheeks. "She had beauty inside, as well as outside."
Born one of 13 children in Trinidad, Aiken-Logan immigrated 35 years ago with her former husband and her only child, David Logan, 46, a father of three.
Relatives said she came here for opportunity and found her calling as a midwife. She retired two years ago.
Yesterday, as her nephew Keith Baron sat on the stoop of Aiken-Logan's brownstone, staring at the azaleas and gladioli she had planted, he wondered how this could happen to such a loving woman.
"Death is a tragedy. No one can get used to it, especially the way she went," said Baron, 39. "At least she was coming from church, and made peace with her God. It's the most comforting part."
With Richard Weir