Teen Babysitter's Killer Gets 41-Year Sentence, Says Brooklyn DA

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — The Flatbush man who shot a 16-year-old babysitter dead with a submachine rifle will spend more than 40 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Taariq Stephens, 26, received a 41-year-sentence for shooting Shemel Mercurius in the arm as she babysat her 3-year-old cousin in a Brooklyn Avenue apartment on May 31, 2016, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced Tuesday.

Mercurius told police, who found her lying on the ground of a sixth floor apartment near Brooklyn and Foster avenues, that Stephens had broken in and shot her, prosecutors said.

Emergency responders rushed the teen to Kings County Hospital, but doctors were unable to save her life and she died 90 minutes later, said prosecutors.

Investigators found surveillance footage of Stephens forcing his way into the apartment with a .40-caliber submachine rifle moments before the teen was shot, said prosecutors.

Stephens, of East Flatbush, turned himself into police two days after the shooting, said prosecutors.

“This defendant will now spend many years behind bars for the callous killing of an innocent teenage girl,” District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

“Nothing can bring Shemel back to her devastated family, but I hope that today’s sentence will afford them a small measure of solace.”

Stephens was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court after being convicted of manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child in December, prosecutors said.

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