In what should have been a celebration, a 45-year-old mother from Brooklyn, Rasheeda Barzey, lost her life in a tragic and violent turn of events on the evening of April 5, 2021. The setting was her fourth-floor apartment in the Van Dyke Houses in the Brownsville neighborhood, where a birthday party was planned for her youngest daughter. Instead of joy, the night ended in a devastating triple murder-suicide that also claimed the lives of Rasheeda's two older daughters, 20-year-old Solei Spears
and 16-year-old Chloe Spears. The perpetrator was Joseph McCrimon, Rasheeda's 46-year-old boyfriend and the father of the nine-year-old birthday girl.
That night, McCrimon arrived at the apartment, but not for a celebration. Following what police described as a 'rage-fueled rampage,' he shot and killed Rasheeda and her two daughters. Amid the horror, the couple's nine-year-old daughter bravely hid and placed a heart-wrenching 911 call, telling the dispatcher, 'Daddy's coming for my birthday... he didn't bring presents.' Responding officers found a horrific scene, with Rasheeda, Solei, and Chloe deceased from gunshot wounds. McCrimon was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on a nearby walkway, with two firearms recovered by police.
The investigation revealed a long and troubled history between McCrimon and Barzey. Their relationship spanned two decades, and while there were no official domestic violence reports, family and friends indicated the relationship had been 'very rocky.' McCrimon had a significant criminal history, including a prior conviction for manslaughter for which he served over eight years in prison. Police determined the incident was a murder-suicide, stemming from the tumultuous domestic situation. The community was left to mourn the loss of Rasheeda, a dedicated mother and an administrative manager with the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation, and her two daughters, who had their promising futures cut short.
