In what should have been a joyous time, 31-year-old Shanice Young, a pregnant woman from Manhattan, NY, was fatally shot in the early morning hours of September 12, 2021. The tragic incident unfolded in Harlem just after she had returned from her own baby shower. Young was unloading gifts from her vehicle on West 128th Street near Frederick Douglass Boulevard with family, including her two young daughters, when the events leading to her death began to transpire.
She was expecting her third child in just a few days.
Her ex-boyfriend, identified as 40-year-old Justin Soriano, arrived at the scene and confronted Young's then-current boyfriend. The altercation escalated, with Soriano chasing the other man before returning to where Young was. As she stood beside the car where her children and others were, she attempted to de-escalate the situation by asking Soriano what he was doing there. In response, Soriano shot her in the head at close range in front of her children. Emergency services transported her to a local hospital, but she and her unborn child could not be saved.
Following the shooting, a manhunt for Soriano was initiated by the New York Police Department. He was located and arrested in the Bronx on September 16, 2021. Soriano was subsequently charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and endangering the welfare of a child. In November 2024, a jury found him guilty on all counts. On April 3, 2025, Justin Soriano was sentenced to 40 years to life in state prison for the murder of Shanice Young and her unborn child.
