A suspect has been arrested for stabbing a woman to death in front of her 7-year-old son over spurned advances at a Brooklyn park barbecue she was hosting, police said Tuesday.
Suspect Deandre Creary had gone on just one date with 30-year-old victim Shakeema Davis, 30, according to her grieving family.
But Creary, 25, later showed up at the cookout she threw in Lincoln Terrace Park in Crown Heights, a gathering that started late in the day on Aug. 17 and ran past midnight.
Shakeema Davis (Facebook)
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the killer hounded Davis “for sex” before stabbing her about 12:40 a.m. Aug. 18.
“She keeps saying no,” Kenny said. “They’re arguing. It’s verbal; it turns physical. After she throws a drink on him, he begins to assault her. She actually picks up the barbecue in an attempt to get him away from her and strikes him with the barbecue. Once he’s struck with the barbecue, he pulls out a knife and stabs her three times.”
Davis’ son was not hurt.
Police investigate the fatal stabbing inside Lincoln Terrace Park in Brooklyn on Aug. 18. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
Sin the crowd of 20 or so guests still there tried to grab the killer but he kept them at bay by swinging his knife at them before running off, Kenny said.
Medics rushed Davis to Brookdale University Hospital, where she died less than an hour later.
Police investigate the fatal stabbing inside Lincoln Terrace Park in Brooklyn on Aug. 18. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
“She was a wonderful woman,” her mother said at the time. “Her son is with me now. He witnessed it. He’s doing as well as can be expected.”
Creary was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and weapon possession. He lives in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, according to the NYPD.
Deandre Creary in police custody leaving the NYPD’s 77th Precinct stationhouse in Brooklyn on Tuesday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
Two days after the killing, the NYPD released a surveillance photo of the suspect shirtless and asked for the public’s help identifying him.