Yesterday morning around 5 a.m., a shooting broke out at a Brooklyn apartment complex, killing a 22-year-old Crystal Sweet and her 29-year-old boyfriend Timothy Walter and critically injuring the boyfriend's 30-year-old brother, Cornelius Walter. The violence erupted in the courtyard of the Sheepshead Bay Houses; according to WCBS 2, the victims were "confronted by the gunman as they returned home." Sweet's mother said, "We heard like six or seven shots and then the screaming, they were screaming, ‘Crystal is dead, Crystal is dead. I never thought this day would happen. I never really thought this would happen.”
Sweet, who lived at the complex with her family, including her 5-year-old daughter, had gone to a bar and then a barbecue with Cornelius Walter. When they returned to the Sheepshead Bay Houses, Timothy Walter was waiting for them. Sweet's father told the Daily News "he suspects a Saturday argument between Timothy Walter and another man led to the bloody, predawn hit," saying it was "retaliation. She didn't have a bad bone about her."
The News also reports, "Sweet and the Walter brothers were each shot multiple times. At least 10 9-mm. shell casings were found at the scene, but no weapon was recovered, police sources said. Police did not provide a motive for the madness, but cop sources said Timothy and Cornelius Walter both have extensive criminal records and had each done prison time. Timothy Walter had been arrested 24 times and was on parole. Cornelius Walter had 13 prior arrests, the sources said."
Sweet's family suggested that Timothy Walter was abusive to her; her grandmother told the Post, "He was bad news. I kept telling her to leave him. She wouldn't."
