Investigators believe an ex-con fatally shot outside a Brooklyn apartment building was killed in retaliation for the gang-related slaying of a 15-year-old boy just hours earlier, law-enforcement sources said Thursday
Nickalos Mitchell, 21, was murdered Tuesday evening outside a Prospect Lefferts Gardens building less than three hours after the boy was shot to death over a standoff his mother believed was sparked by “a look.”
No arrests have been made in either shooting and it was not immediately clear if the slain man was the teen’s killer. But investigators believe Mitchell’s death was in some way payback for the slaying of the boy, law enforcement sources said.
The chain of violence began when the boy, Heath Campbell, was shot twice in the back and his 16-year-old pal was blasted in the shoulder in the lobby of their building on E. 93rd St. near Rutland Road in East Flatbush about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, cops said.
Campbell died at Kings County Hospital, while the older boy was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and is expected to recover.
At the hospital, Joy Smith, 46, shared final moments with her slain son.
“I asked the doctor, ‘Can I touch him?’” the grieving mother told The News Wednesday. “I was just rubbing his legs, his hands. I was rubbing his feet. I was kissing his face and his forehead.”
Heath was a sophomore at Brooklyn Institute of Liberal Arts. Cops say he and his wounded friend have no criminal records but the shooting is believed to be gang related.
Heath’s mother says another friend of her sons, who witnessed the shooting but was not struck, told her the killer snarled, “What are you looking at?” before opening fire
“That’s all I know,” said Smith. “It was over a look.”
Cops say Heath was smoking weed with his two pals when the gunman stepped inside the lobby and opened fire. Two people were seen fleeing.
Less than a mile away, Mitchell was shot multiple times in the back outside an apartment building on Lefferts Ave. near New York Ave. about 6 p.m., cops said. A witness told The News shots rang out after a large fight involving the victim.
Medics rushed Mitchell to Kings County Hospital, where he died.
“Nickalos was a vibrant soul,” his heartbroken mother, Stephanie Ozuluonye, 46, said Thursday. “He likes to crack jokes. He likes to look at the simple side of life … He loved to spend time with the family. He liked to vibe with his family.”
A registered sex offender, Mitchell had ties to Brooklyn gangs and a criminal history that included a conviction for raping an adult woman when he was 15, authorities said. He also had four armed robbery arrests on his record, police sources say. He was conditionally released from state prison by parole last March.
Mitchell’s mother said her son was getting his life back on track and following his godfather into masonry construction work.
“He went to church, he got baptized, he was a part of a steel pan group going from church to church.” Ozuluonye said. “He even played steel pan at his (high school) graduation … He always craved information, information on how to better himself as a young man.”
Law enforcement sources said Mitchell had ties to the Babiiez gang, but his mother strongly denied that.
“Nickalos was not in no gang. He never been in any gang and he never wanted to be in a gang.” Ozuluonye said.
“He does not do initiation and all these things. He lost his life and he lost his life unfairly. Someone took it away with a weapon. Nickalos was a child that was full of life.”
She described getting the call her son had been shot.
“I got a call from a family member. They asked me if I’m sitting down. I said to them, ‘Please, I don’t want to hear any bad news.’ That’s how I reacted. I said, ‘Just tell me what happened.’ I wanted them to just get to the chase. They told me Nickalos has been shot and that he’s heading to the hospital and I need to get there ASAP.”
By the time she got to the hospital her son had died.
“I didn’t want to hear the news,” she said. “When I saw the reactions of my nephew and my sister’s husband and then my sister balled out and started screaming and crying, I knew what happened.”
Dozens of candles crowded a memorial for Mitchell outside his home in the Bushwick Houses.
“Nickolas was a good kid,” said a 28-year-old man who gave his name as Mike who grew up with the victim. “He’s loved by everyone in the neighborhood. He was in the process of starting his own financial business. He always had business ideas. All of his friends are definitely hurting.”
Ozuluonye said she got a call from a family member after Mitchell was shot.
“I just tried to hold myself together, you know, because I have asthma and I have two other children and my husband,” she said. “I know my son wouldn’t want anything to happen to me. I’m just trying to be strong for him even though he’s not here.”
Mitchell’s mother said the gun violence has to stop.
“I feel like this weapon, it should never have been created,” Ozuluonye said. “I understand it stops bad men. I understand they use it for protection. But it gets into the wrong hands.”
“Back in the day, if someone has to have a fight, you fight it out and may the best man win,” she added. “But now it’s, ‘I’ll get you from behind and I’m going to use this firearm because I can. You know that person when they (die), they don’t ever come back, never ever in life.”
With Julian Roberts-Grmela and Kerry Burke
