A ruthless brute accused of “mercilessly” stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death outside her Manhattan apartment building was hit with a murder indictment Wednesday, prosecutors announced.
Tyquane Jemmott, 33, is charged with waiting outside the Washington Heights building for 29-year-old Shirley Rodriguez around 5:30 a.m. on May 20 – and pouncing on her in a vicious, minute-long attack while she screamed, “Ty, why me? Why me?” the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
Rodriguez was stabbed “at least 10 times,” with wounds to her face, arms and torso.
Mortally wounded, the bloodied victim was still able to stumble into the lobby of the building to buzz her apartment to summon her mom and sister, telling them as she lay dying, “Ty did this to me.”
“This is a gruesome domestic violence murder,” assistant DA Shilpa Kalra said in court Wednesday. “The defendant stabbed his ex-girlfriend at least — at the very least — 10 times. We’re still awaiting the autopsy report.
“He is on video hiding behind parked vehicles, literally laying for like three hours, waiting for his ex-girlfriend who just broke up with the defendant one week prior, waiting for her to leave her home for work.”
“He stabbed her mercilessly, over and over again,” Kalra added, telling Judge Gregory Carro that the shocking assault “lasted for over a minute.”
Jemmott allegedly fled the scene but was arrested later that day at a relative’s apartment in the Bronx.
“Shirley Rodriguez was beloved by her family, including her mother, father, and sister who so tragically had to hear this young woman’s final words as she succumbed to her injuries,” DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “My thoughts are with them as they continue to grieve her loss.”
Jemmott was hit with one count of second-degree murder in the indictment and was ordered held without jail pending a return court appearance on Sept. 18.
