A 19-year-old female college basketball player was killed on Long Island in a triple shooting Saturday night — hours after playing the most minutes yet this season in a game.
Tragic Monroe University guard Amira McCleod, a Queens native playing at the school’s Bronx campus, was gunned down just before 11 p.m. outside a Hempstead home near Willow and Kennedy avenues, cops and reports said.
The bullets rained down during a party and also struck two 20-year-old men who are students at nearby Nassau Community College, CBS 2 reported.
McCleod was pronounced dead on the scene, while the two young men were hospitalized in stable condition, according to Nassau Police.
It’s unclear whether any of the victims were the targets in the attack. No arrest has been made, and an investigation into the shooting is ongoing, the department said.
Party guest Makail Muhammad described how the horror suddenly unfolded without any warning.
“I was inside, and I heard shots, and everybody started running and everything. The police came quick,” he told CBS.
“Everything happened outside. Like, we didn’t know anything was gonna happen.”
McCleod was nine games into her sophomore season when slain. Her team, The Express, was off to an early 8-1 hot start.
The 5’3″ guard played a season high 30 minutes in the team’s Saturday afternoon 67-44 win over Dutchess Community College hours before her death.
She chose the Bronx school because “I wanted to be surrounded by a group of people who care about me but also my future as well,” according to her bio on the team’s Web site.
The promising athlete, who studied business administration, said she wanted to continue her education at “a four-year school” after leaving Monroe.
Her dream eventually was to open a clothing and sneaker store.
Monroe described McCLeod as “a cherished member of our Express women’s basketball team” in a statement to The Post, adding that the school “community is devastated by the tragic loss.
“We are in close contact with Amira’s family, teammates, and roommates, offering our full support as they navigate this unimaginable loss.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
