Gambian mother in New York fatally shot by son after telling him to get a job, family say

Fatoumata Danson, a 39-year-old Gambian immigrant residing in New York, was fatally shot in the head by her 22-year-old son in retaliation for allegedly kicking him out of her home and telling him to get a job, family members said.

According to NBC New York, the incident occurred in Danson’s apartment at Lehman Village in Harlem on Tuesday, January 26. The accused – identified as Musa Camara – was later apprehended by the police somewhere around the neighborhood while still armed with the murder weapon.

Following his arrest, police said he underwent a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital. Distraught relatives who spoke to the news outlet said they want the accused to face the full rigors of the law, with Danson’s brother, Yaku Basangari, saying he wants his nephew Camara to “to rot in jail for the rest of his life.” Besides Camara, Danson had seven other children.

Basangari, who described his sister as lovely and kind, said the family immigrated to New York City from Gambia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s in search of greener pastures. “She always smiled and laughed,” he said.

Asked what may have been the motive behind Camara fatally shooting his own mother, Basangari said it was because his nephew is a “lazy bastard.” “My sister told him to get a job, threw him out of the house…and this was his reaction,” he added.

Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported Camara was due to appear before the Manhattan Criminal Court on the day of the shooting for earlier threatening to kill Danson. Authorities had also provided Danson with a “panic button” she could press for help after she was granted an order of protection against Camara. He flouted that order when he went to her apartment to kill her.

Prior to the shooting, Camara was initially facing charges related to body-slamming his deceased mother before telling her, “I will kill you”, during a confrontation in her apartment last year. The police also reportedly visited the home several times to break up altercations between the two.

“She is an immigrant in this country, come and look for a better life and she got killed by her own son,” Yankuba Sangarie, another brother of Danson, told the New York Post.

“I want him to go the rest of his life in prison,” he emotionally added. “My nephew- I want him to go life in prison, no mercy for him.”

Camara has been charged with murder.