A heart-wrenching vigil for a beloved teacher who was fatally shot brought together some 50 family members and coworkers at the young woman’s Bronx home Monday, where mourners shared tears and prayers.
Loved ones of Jessica Hoyle, 31, held up balloons and huddled together on the rainy block of her home on Mickle Ave. near Boston Road in Parkchester, where Hoyle was shot in the head April 1.
“I don’t know what to do now,” said Hoyle’s devastated mother, Lisa Marie Cabassa, 57. “I have to do better because if not, I’ll have another heart attack. I don’t want that to happen again.”
Cabassa, who uses a wheelchair and lives in the basement of the apartment, heard the fatal shot that rung out from Hoyle’s home and called 911 — unable to climb the stairs to check on her daughter. Hoyle’s 35-year-old boyfriend, Shannon Grahan, was wanted for questioning in the incident as the mother recalled hearing him and Hoyle arguing all day before the deadly gunfire.
Officers finally tracked down him down and tried to arrest him April 3 at an apartment on Pratt Ave. near Conner St. in Baychester, where he barricaded himself inside.
After hours of negotiations, Grahan shot himself, according to police sources.
Cabassa said Hoyle took care of her and the family until her father died. Hoyle also took care of her mom when she had a heart attack, and Cabassa said she especially didn’t want to see her daughter caught up in domestic violence.
“I went through that, I was with a man for many years who was a monster. I didn’t want that for her,” Cabassa said.
Hoyle was a 1st grade teacher at Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School in Crotona, and was “well loved” by her colleagues.
“That was my sister, I wish she was here, she took care of me,” the victim’s sister, Rachel Hoyle, 23, said at the vigil. “I miss her so much but she isn’t here now, I wish she was here.”
As the vigil ended, loved ones said a prayer followed by a moment of silence before they released balloons into the sky.
Cabassa, joined by others, then solumnly vowed “justice for Jessica.”
