A 49-year-old woman was shot and killed by her boyfriend in their Brooklyn apartment on Sunday.
Police responding to a 911 call from East 96th Street in East Flatbush around 3 a.m. Sunday morning found Jacqueline Wilson with gunshot wounds to the head, torso and leg. She was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center where she was pronounced dead, according to the NYPD.
Peter Hibbert, 48, identified by police as Wilson’s boyfriend, was taken into custody. The Daily News reported that he was found in the basement of the house and treated for a cut on his arm.
“They just had an argument, he pulled out a gun and he shot her four times,” Andre Simmons, the husband of Wilson's sister, told Gothamist by phone. Wilson’s daughter, who lived with the couple, was the one who called police, he added.
Simmons says Hibbert and Wilson had been together for a few years. They fought often, but their arguments didn’t dampen Wilson’s zest for life.
“She was jovial. She always joked around, very happy,” Simmons said. “Just enjoyed life. Liked to party, liked to drink, liked to be around family.”
Wilson is the second or third woman to die of gun violence this year in New York City, depending on when 43-year-old Dora Howell was killed. Howell was found fatally shot in a basement on Staten Island by police in April, but it is unclear exactly when she died.
The other woman, Alexa Ruiz, 23, was found fatally shot in a first-floor bedroom in her Queens apartment in January by police during a wellness check.
In comparison, 76 men have been shot and killed citywide this year so far, according to data from the police department.
No arrests have been made yet in the murders of Howell and Ruiz.
As Hibbert awaited arraignment Monday in Brooklyn’s Criminal Court, Wilson’s grieving family members were left to grapple with the devastating loss.
“Why? All he had to do was just leave, come back in a few hours with a calmer head,” Simmons said. “There was no reason to shoot her.”
