A 33-year-old man was fatally shot in the chest on a Brooklyn street known as a prostitution hot spot early Sunday, police said.
The victim, Tjine Hemans of Jamaica, Queens, was shot at about 12:20 a.m. at the corner of Georgia and Wortman Aves. in East New York. Cops recovered a gun and took a person of interest into custody.
Hemans worked at an Amazon warehouse in Long Island and had a baby boy with his fiancee four months ago, his distraught mother told the Daily News.
“That baby needs a father and they took him away. He was very happy having that child,” said the victim’s mom, Evett Newton. “I always tell him, especially since he had the baby, I keep saying, ‘You have a baby and you must stand up for him, make him have a father.’”
Hemans had an arrest record that included a 2018 bust for promoting prostitution, police sources said, though it wasn’t clear if his past was a factor in his killing.
Medics took Hemans to Brookdale University Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
Hemans’ mother said she’d heard he was coming from a party at the time of the shooting but didn’t know the details. She didn’t know of anyone who’d want to hurt him, she added.
“I never knew he went to East New York. I spoke to him in the evening, and he just said, ‘Later, mommy.’ He doesn’t live with me. He’s a grown 33-year-old man,” Newton said.
She said she visited him around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, used her bathroom and showed off photos and video of his new son. He lived next door with his fiancee and the newborn, Ace.
“And then he said, ‘Mommy, see you later,’” Newton recounted. “That’s the last thing I heard from him.”
Hemans had three sisters who learned about his death though one of his fiancee’s relatives, his mom said.
“My kids told me. I heard my kids just crying out. My daughter just said, ‘My brother is gone!’” the mom recalled. “We just heard the shooting took place in Brooklyn but we don’t know where in Brooklyn.”
She said she was glad that police had someone in custody.
“I serve God and I’m supposed to have a forgiving heart, but how can you really take someone’s life and want to be free? You can’t do that to somebody. You hurt a family,” she said. “How can you do that to somebody?”
“Oh, God, we are in a terrible world,” Newton added.
The victim’s stepfather, who didn’t give his name, also expressed relief that police were interviewing a person of interest.
“Quick work that they found a gun and got someone in custody. That’s good,” he said. “We’re all just shocked, just can’t believe this happened … You hurt a family, and for what?”