Police shared new details Thursday in connection with the fatal Brooklyn stabbing of a Crown Heights woman earlier this week.
Authorities said 30-year-old Shakeema Davis was stabbed at her own barbecue at Lincoln Terrace Park around 12:41 a.m. Tuesday in front of her 7-year-old son and numerous others. Police said Davis' attacker had previously dated Davis and stabbed her after she refused to have sex with him.
It was the 77th Precinct's first homicide of 2026. By this time last year, the precinct had recorded four, according to NYPD data.
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Davis started the barbecue on Rochester Avenue around 5 p.m. Monday, and that 15 to 20 people, including her son, had attended.
He said investigators believe that the man who stabbed Davis may have previously dated her and called during the night to ask where the party was. After he arrived, an argument that had ensued turned physical when Davis threw a drink on him and he began assaulting her, Kenny said. She then picked up the grill and struck him with it, trying to get him away from her, according to Kenny.
That was when the man pulled a knife and stabbed her three times, according to police. Davis was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital at 1:19 a.m.
"The people in the group actually tried to apprehend the perpetrator, but he started to swing the knife at them, so he ran and escaped," Kenny said.
Detectives have interviewed two or three eyewitnesses, and someone at the scene handed police a still photograph of the alleged attacker, Kenny said.
Investigators have identified a vehicle used to flee and are reviewing body-worn camera footage from responding officers to identify additional witnesses, authorities said. But Kenny said police have not gathered enough evidence to make an arrest, and police did not release the man's name.
"We're very close to probable cause, but we're not quite there yet," Kenny said.
