Mourners grieve at funeral for family killed by relative in Far Rockaway home

A Queens church was standing room only on Monday for a sad farewell to a mother and daughter who were among four family members killed by an unhinged relative earlier this month in Far Rockaway.

Suzette Taylor-Davis, 44, and her daughter Mikaylia James, 11, were stabbed to death by cousin Courtney Gordon during a horrifying spree that also claimed the lives of Taylor-Davis’ husband, Rickmon Davis, and his 12-year-old son, Rojaun. The rampage ended when Gordon was shot and killed by police.

Mother and daughter lay in grey caskets at the front of Greater Session Cathedral in South Richmond Hill, both dressed in white, with Taylor-Davis wearing a sparkling tiara.

A steady stream of mourners passed by the caskets, one teen pausing to briefly cradle one of Mikaylia’s braids in his palm before moving on.

Mikaylia’s parents met while working at Goody’s, a Jamaican restaurant in Arverne, cousin Jacquline Coley told the crowd.

“Despite their separation, Mikaylia was the apple of her parents’ eyes and their top priority,” said Coley, who called the sixth-grader “the epitome of a daddy’s girl.”

The victim received honors at school and developed a talent for modeling and dancing, said Coley, her parents enrolling her in a modeling school from which Mikaylia graduated from in October.

“Her face would light up with excitement whenever she was dancing,” said Coley.

Despite her shyness, “Mikaylia was great at making new friends because of her warm, welcoming personality,” the cousin said.

“When we love someone, they do not die,” said Shauntina Kerrison, the principal from Goldie Maple Academy in Arverne where Mikaylia was enrolled.

“She lives in the remembrance of her smile, the soft-spoken voice she used, the amazing dancer she was, the thoughtful listener she was and her beautiful spirit,” she added.

“Her infectious laughter and unwavering optimism could break through even the darkest of days,” friend Selena Brighton wrote in a eulogy read by a minister.

“She had a remarkable ability to seek the best in people and a genuine warmth and joy for all who knew her,” the eulogy continued.

Brighton wrote that the two began their friendship of 10 years when Taylor-Davis styled her hair, sharing stories about their lives and becoming closer.

“Her bravery and fearlessness encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and embrace new experiences,” wrote the friend, who also noted the victim’s generosity and compassion.

Chistine Watson, Taylor-Davis’ mother, had recently taken Gordon into the family home after he bounced between homeless shelters for the past year following a separation from his wife. However, due to Gordon’s increasingly odd behavior, he was asked to leave on Thanksgiving. The attacks came less than two weeks later.

Watson and her daughter, teenager Ruthann Watson, survived the attack — Christine Watson because Gordon thought she was dead, Ruthann by leaping from a first-floor window. The attack claimed the lives of Ruthann Watson’s sister, brother-in-law, 11-year-old niece and 12-year-old nephew.

The terror erupted at the end of a calm night. Ruthann, 16 and her mother were woken up by the sound of Mikaylia screaming, the teen previously told the Daily News.

Christine Watson and her daughter peeked into the hallway to investigate the screams, where they found the teen’s brother-in-law, Rickmon Davis, leaning against the door with stab wounds after falling down.

The two quickly retreated back into the room, where eventually the teen decided to jump out the first-floor window to escape and call 911. Gordon broke into the room as Ruthann fled and repeatedly stabbed her mother, who tried to talk sense into him.

“I said, ‘You want to kill me? You’re killing your auntie,'” Christine Watson previously told The News. “He said you should have been dead a long time.”

Ruthann said as police and ambulances approached, she pointed out to them that Gordon was in her brother-in-law’s car, about to drive away.

The attacker pulled out a kitchen steak knife and stabbed both officers responding to the chaos on Beach 22nd St. NYPD veteran Edmond Decio, suffering from a stab wound, opened fire and fatally shot Gordon, police and sources said.

On Monday, before going out into the pouring rain to the burial, the congregation heard some last words from Bishop Damon Sessions.

“Their presence was just meaningful,” he said. “We just thank God that he had loaned them to us.”