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The reckless hoodlum who allegedly gunned down beloved Harlem fixture Excenia “Momma Zee” Mette in a tragic stray-bullet shooting has surrendered to authorities, The Post has learned.
A 23-year-old man from Bronx was in custody after he turned himself in at Manhattan’s criminal courthouse Monday morning – nearly a week after the fateful gun battle outside Mette’s apartment building, sources said.
He’ll face murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges, the sources said.
Police believe the man shot Mette, 61, by mistake late April 22 as he exchanged bullets with Darious Smith, 23, late near West 113th Street and Lenox Avenue, according to sources.
The kindly Mette had rushed outside to check on her grandson after hearing gunfire, neighbors said. She got caught in the crossfire and took a bullet to the head, harrowing video shows.
Smith, who was arrested nearby with a gunshot wound to his foot, faces an attempted murder charge.
Mette’s former business, Momma Zee’s Food to Plez Deli, was the first black woman-owned bodega in the city when she opened it in the 1980s.
Mourners, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, marched Saturday in honor of Mette, whom they remembered as the “Mayor of Harlem.”
“My grandmother should be here,” said her heartbroken grandson Jarian Jordan Jr., 24. “We have to stop the senseless gun violence.”
— Additional reporting by Joe Marino
English (US)