Excenia Mette, 61, known as Momma Zee, was killed by a stray bullet on the evening of April 22, 2025, after rushing outside her Lenox Avenue home to check on her grandson when a dispute nearby erupted into a shootout. The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. near West 113th Street and Lenox Avenue. She was struck in the head, taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, and pronounced dead.

A pillar of the Harlem community, Mette had been a pioneering local business owner who established one of the first Black woman-owned bodegas in the neighborhood. Her death prompted a vigil and widespread mourning among neighbors who remembered her as a devoted advocate and matriarch.

The NYPD identified and arrested people connected to the incident: 23-year-old Darious Smith was found at the scene with a gunshot wound to his foot and charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. On April 28, 2025, 23-year-old Ricky Shelby surrendered and was charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon; police say he is believed to have fired the shot that killed Mette.

Did anyone in Harlem know Momma Zee or see activity near West 113th Street and Lenox Avenue on the night of April 22?