Jamaican charged with niece's murder in New York

A 58-year-old Jamaican man has been charged with murder after his niece was gunned down while sitting in her SUV in the Bronx, New York, on Monday night.

Michael Foster was on Wednesday charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Julia Anderson, whose parents are Jamaican.

According to police and US media reports, Anderson was inside her Jeep Grand Cherokee in the Wakefield section of the Bronx shortly before midnight when she was shot twice in the chest.

Emergency responders rushed her to Jacobi Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police have not disclosed a motive for the killing.

Investigators initially believed Anderson had been shot by someone riding a moped after witnesses reported seeing one speed away from the scene. However, authorities have not determined whether the rider was the shooter or someone fleeing the area.

Officers recovered two spent shell casings at the scene.

Anderson, who lived with her mother in nearby Mount Vernon, was reportedly on her way home from work when she was killed.

Speaking to a local television station, her mother, Beverly Patterson, said she knew something was wrong when her daughter failed to arrive home around her usual time.

"My heart felt like it was going to come out," Patterson said after learning of her daughter's death.

Family members described Anderson as a hardworking woman who cared for people with disabilities. She was just one month shy of her 40th birthday.

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