An emotional vigil that drew family, friends and community activists was held Wednesday for a beloved Harlem grandmother, businesswoman and community leader killed by a stray bullet in the crossfire of a shooting.
The vigil took place near the home of Excenia Mette, 61, who was gunned down Tuesday night trying to make sure her grandson was safe amid a senseless brawl.
According to cops, Mette, while inside Tamara’s Beauty Bar, a salon on Lenox Ave. near W. 113th St., heard a loud argument between two groups about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday. The salon is on the first floor of the apartment building where Mette lived.
Knowing her grandson was outside, Mette called out to the group as the commotion grew, demanding the quarrel stop and for her grandchild to leave, sources said. Her grandson, who was not involved in the fight, warned her to stay in the salon.
“Not only did she run out for her grandson, she probably ran out for the very bullet from the person that shot her,” Mette’s sister, Diane London — a pastor in Allentown, Pa., who lives in Harlem — said at the vigil, calling her sister an “anchor” for the community who would “run into a fire” to help others.
“She ran out for you too, because she cared enough about that, no matter how many times we begged her not to come out here, when you got in trouble, she came anyway. We could not stop her for helping you. And I want to tell you today that the power of God is going to rectify this situation,” London said.
Mette’s grandson, Jarian Jordan Jr., 24, also spoke at the vigil, recounting that “I heard the shots go off downstairs and then I came downstairs.”
“The last thing I remember, she was downstairs,” he said, still shaken by the violence. “She was actually making dinner, and she was organizing the front of the store. She periodically checked on the store.”
According to cops, the two gunmen wrestled with each other, with one of the men pulling a gun and opening fire. The other man then drew his own weapon and fired back — just as Mette stepped outside, cops said. Mette was struck in the head by the stray bullet. Medics rushed her to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, but she could not be saved.
The first shooter, identified by sources as 23-year-old Darious Smith, was blasted in the left foot by his rival and was transported to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in stable condition, cops said. The other gunman, who ran off and has not been caught, fired the bullet that killed Mette, according to a police source.
Jordan Jr. referred to his grandmother, who went by the name of “Zeenie,” as a “pillar of the community” who served as a longtime member of the National Action Network, headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton. She owned and operated Momma Zee’s Food to Plez on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., which Jordan Jr. noted made her the first Black woman to own and run a bodega in New York City since 1987. The bodega closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t even have the words. My mother was an advocate for the community. She wouldn’t leave,” said her 40-year-old son Jarian Jordan Sr. “I tried to extract her from the community, but she loved it. She gave everything to this community and in the end she gave all.”
