In the Bronx, a single gunshot in the middle of the night marked the tragic end for a promising young woman. Marie Faye, a 35-year-old female nurse, was fatally shot in her Ogden Avenue apartment on the evening of March 21, 2018. When police arrived at the scene around 10:30 p.m., they discovered her wounded and in the presence of her boyfriend, 42-year-old Alain Samba.
Faye was rushed to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, but her injuries proved to be fatal, and she died at the hospital.
Alain Samba, an off-duty Rikers Island correction officer at the time of the incident, was taken into custody at the scene. He claimed to law enforcement that the shooting was a terrible accident, stating that his gun discharged while he was cleaning it. The building superintendent, who described Faye as a 'fantastic person' whose nursing career was taking off, expressed shock that she would even be near a gun. He fondly remembered her constant smile and could not say a single negative thing about her.
Following an investigation into the fatal shooting, Alain Samba was arrested. Initially, he was charged with criminally negligent homicide. However, the case was presented to a grand jury, which returned an indictment on more serious charges. On May 30, 2018, the Bronx District Attorney announced that Samba had been indicted for second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Prosecutors argued that as a correction officer trained in firearm safety, he had handled the weapon recklessly, leading to the death of his girlfriend. If convicted of the top charge, he faced a potential prison sentence of five to fifteen years.
