News & Opinion
On Wednesday (April 21), LaTisha Bell, 38 was seen on camera executing her ex-girlfriend Nichelle Thomas, 52, in broad daylight.
According to New York Daily, The incident happened around 1 p.m. on April 21 in front of a bodega. Thomas' last moments were captured on a 9-second surveillance video.
Thomas was seen walking along the corner of 4th Avenue and St Marks Place in Brooklyn. Bell followed her as she raced from the street to the sidewalk. She then charged up to Thomas from behind to shot her in the head with a fire arm and ran away.
The emergency team was called immediately but Thomas, a mother of two, was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead at 1:26 pm after being rushed to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
Bell has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the NYPD of Brooklyn's Twitter, they stated that the incident was being investigated as a homicide and there were no arrests made until 4 p.m. That is when witnesses saw Bell, 38 turning herself in at the 78th Precinct station with a lawyer.
“I’m turning myself in for the homicide and that the gun is inside the bag”...I need to talk to the homicide detective...I did the shooting,” said LaTisha Bell.
Both Bell and Thomas lived together for 20 years before their break up in 2016. Their neighbor, Deneen Johnson, 56, spoke with NY Daily News and shared insight on their relationship.
“She (Thomas) was a mother...They lived together for years, but they were always fighting. They had a big falling out about three years ago and she left... Furniture was broken, pictures were broken...and we would help (Thomas) clean up the mess and all of that.”
Brooklyn assistant district attorney Wilfredo Cotto reported that Bell and Thomas were in 13 domestic incident reports and Bell was the aggressor in 10 of them.
Bell’s sister (asked to remain anonymous) spoke with NY Daily Mail and shared activities about her sister.
“They broke up because Nichelle caused Latisha to lose custody of her son. She (Latisha) was dealing with mental issues for a very long time, She tried to leave her alone, but the woman (Thomas) kept coming back to her. Every time she saw my sister doing well she kept going back to her, knowing that she’s mentally disabled. They had a long going domestic violence issue – when my sister left she should have just kept on going.”
Latisha Bell was taken into custody without bail and will return to court on April 27, 2021, stated by NY Daily Mail.
