A 24-year-old Brooklyn man was on Tuesday sentenced to 15 years in prison for fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl who rejected his sexual advances at a party in 2022. According to the New York Post, Javone Duncan was handed the prison sentence after he was convicted of manslaughter charges in March.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in a statement said Duncan fatally shot Rae’Lynn Cameron in the chest and then “fled the scene without trying to help the victim.” Authorities said Duncan and Cameron were at a party in East New York in October 2022 when the convicted man made advances toward her.
Prosecutors said Cameron, however, turned down Duncan’s advances and told him to “suck my d–k.” Duncan, who was 22 at the time, is said to have gotten angry over Cameron’s response. He then drew a pistol and opened fire on the 17-year-old before fleeing the scene.
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Authorities said that prior to the fatal shooting, Duncan “pointed the same gun at another young woman at the party and clicked the safety of the gun on and off, according to the evidence, and was told to stop pointing a loaded gun at people because it was dangerous.”
“This senseless shooting took the life of a young woman with a bright future. Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for his actions and is a measure of justice for the victim’s grieving family,” Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
Cameron’s mother, Cassandra Adams, gave a victim impact statement and asked that Duncan face the full brunt of the law. She said Duncan taking her daughter’s life had deprived her family of “a diamond, a gem, a powerful force.”
“Since this senseless crime, I have been broken beyond words. Not even a guilty verdict can heal the pain that I will endure for the rest of my life,” Adams said, per the New York Post. “I never dreamed of being rich as I was already rich with having my children,” she added.
Adams said the killing of her “beautiful, smart, intelligent, dancing diva” meant that her daughter would no longer have the opportunity to transition into “the phenomenal woman I raised her to be.”
“Please consider all the consequences and the suffering that we as the victims and families of the victim have gone through and continue to go through just because this grown adult made a bad decision,” she said.
