A 27-year-old man killed by a hit-and-run BMW driver in the Bronx moved out of state years ago but was back in his old neighborhood visiting a local bar when he was killed, his heartbroken loved ones say.
Shariq Bryant was crossing E. 222nd St. outside Triple Deuce bar-restaurant near Boston Road when the driver of a 2025 BMW M8 plowed into him about 12:15 a.m. Saturday, police said.
“He left the bar to grab something from his car,” said Bryant’s friend, Javane Johnson, 28, who was with him that night. “He doesn’t deserve this. He was an uplifting dude. Everyone loved him.”
Bryant’s cousin, Dornell Joseph, 23, said Bryant grew up in Williamsbridge not far from the bar and moved to Stamford, Conn. several years ago. He said Bryant was back in the neighborhood for a party for an old family friend.
Joseph said his cousin was an IT tech with ambitious aims.
“I know one of his goals was that he wanted to always put himself in a position where he’d be able to take care of the whole family,” Joseph said. “I know I certainly looked up to him. I told him that on numerous occasions.”
Joseph described his cousin as an optimist who made the best out of every situation.
“He was very uplifting,” Joseph said. “Regardless of what the circumstance was, he was always positive. He was always smiling and goofy and laughing. I consider him to be like the brightest bulb in the room, if that makes sense, or the brightest candle. He was always happy and just jovial all the time and really just a genuine spirit.”
A friend of Brant’s who asked to be identified only as Kady, 26, met the victim at ninth-grade orientation and had been close to him ever since.
“And then I became really close with his family,” Kady said. “He was like my best friend.”
She said Bryant kept everyone together.
“He helped everyone, whether he knew you or not,” she said. “In the midst of chaos, he was always the one to cool it. He was the glue to everyone, the glue to his family, the glue to his friends. He was the glue.”
Cops said the driver of the BMW was zipping down E. 222nd St. when they struck Bryant before crashing into a telephone pole.
The driver jumped out of the totaled vehicle and fled — leaving behind an injured 28-year-old passenger, authorities said.
The front seat passenger suffered only minor injuries and was not hospitalized.
The driver has not been caught.
“I just hope that it can make an arrest so the family can at least find some peace in that and begin their healing,” Kady said. “This is something we will never heal from, but at least that can help us find some peace, finding a person who was responsible for this.”
Joseph agreed.
“They need to come forward, you know?” Joseph said. “They need to turn themselves in and do the right thing.”
Rebecca White / New York Daily News
A memorial near where Shariq Bryant was struck on E. 222nd St. near Boston Road in the Bronx. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
Joseph said Bryant loved going to the gym, shopping and hanging around his family. A GoFundMe was set up to help his family cover funeral costs.
“It hurts a lot,” Joseph said. “I think hurt is an understatement to be honest. It’s painful but I’m just trying to think what he would want if he were still around. I don’t think he’d want people to be crying and to be sad for long. I think he’d want everybody to just remember the positive things that he stood for and what he did for everyone.”
