Brooklyn woman shot and killed by boyfriend was trying to leave him, was blasted in front of her daughter, sister says

Emma Seiwell, Leonard Greene, New York Daily News
Updated ·3 min read
1

A Brooklyn woman who was fatally shot in the head outside her home by her unhinged boyfriend was trying to end the relationship, her sister said Friday.

The gunman, who also shot and wounded a mutual friend, walked across the street and used the same gun to kill himself, police said.

Jasmine Figueroa, 38, was going to leave her rejected boyfriend, Orlando Jones, but he couldn’t take no for an answer, her sister Priscilla Figueroa said.

“She didn’t want to be with him anymore, and he couldn’t take that,” Figueroa recalled. “He was embarrassed, jealous, or just, I don’t know. But she didn’t want to be with him. That was the rage, had to be. It just wasn’t working. He wasn’t doing anything. He didn’t want to get a job.”

Figueroa, 40, said her younger sibling was late for her early-morning shift at a para-transit company, at 3:40 a.m. on Thursday and was getting a ride with a friend, who drove a GMC Yukon.

Jones, who lives nearby, intervened, and began arguing with the pair on Greene Ave. near Marcus Garvey Blvd. in Bedford-Stuyvesant before the shooting started, the sister said.

“This was premeditated,” Figueroa said. “I don’t care what they say. He knew what time my sister woke up for work and what time she was leaving. He waited for her to come outside. She was on her way to work. She was running late. She starts work at 2:30. She usually takes an Uber. A friend was giving her a ride. They all knew each other.”

Jasmine Figueroa died at Kings County Hospital Thursday evening. Her 44-year-old friend was also taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition with wounds to his abdomen and leg, authorities said.

Jones killed himself with a gunshot to the head on the stoop of his own home, police said. It was his birthday.

Priscilla Figueroa said the victim’s daughter saw the tragedy unfold.

“My niece witnessed the whole thing,” she said. “She held hands with her until the ambulance came. This is something that no child should endure. He almost tried to shoot my niece. But he didn’t shoot. He threatened to shoot her. She said, ‘No, please.’ My niece was saved.”

While there was no known violence between the couple, Figueroa didn’t think Jones was good for her sister.

“I didn’t want him for her,” she said. “That’s just my personal opinion. Always was and always will be.”

Most of the time, she said, Jones was a nice guy. He knew her sister a long time but they were in a romantic relationship for five years.

“I don’t care how nice of a guy he is, he’s a murderer,” she said. " He took a sister away from her sister. And a daughter away from a mother. He executed my sister and that is that.”

Priscilla described her late sibling as upbeat and motivational.

“She loved her family,” the sibling said. “No matter what we went through in life, she was a fighter. She fought hard to get my niece to college. She’s not going to be there for my niece’s graduation. She’s not going to be there for all those moments.

“She was my life. She was my baby. We fought here and there as sisters do, but she was always there no matter what and I was always there. We were very close.”