A 16-year-old Queens girl who was shot in the head after getting into a playground fight earlier this month has died, the teen’s aunt confirmed Tuesday.
Claudia Quaatey – who was shot the evening of May 10 as she sat in an SUV outside Locust Manor Park in St. Albans – spent time on life support before dying of her grave injuries, her aunt, Benita Bortey, told The Post.
“Claudia suffered a severe brain injury and was placed on life support,” Bortey wrote in a GoFundMe page, aimed at raising money to cover the slain teen’s funeral, medical and other expenses. “Claudia fought for her life with her loved ones by her side, hoping and praying for a miracle. Claudia unfortunately succumbed to her injury.”
The exact day of her death is unclear, and will be determined by the city medical examiner’s office, Bortey said.
“The family is now tasked with laying Claudia to rest and remains steadfast in their fight for finding justice for Claudia,” she wrote on the fundraiser.
Quaatey had just settled a beef with another group of girls when the shots rang out, police said.
Now cops are trying to determine if the earlier scuffle had anything to do with the shooting or if the teen was just an innocent bystander.
“She had gotten into a fight,” her father Albert Quaatey, 65, said at the family home the day after the shooting, when his daughter was still hospitalized in a medically induced coma. “My daughter, she doesn’t happen to be in fights like that. Just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The police don’t have much to say other than it was an angry meeting, that was it,” said Quaatey, a construction worker who is originally from Ghana. “So, she’s brain dead.”
Three gunmen fired off “multiple” 9mm rounds — in what law enforcement sources believed was part of a gang-related dispute — before running off and remaining on the loose.
No arrests had been made in the case as of Tuesday.
Quaatey said his daughter dreamed of becoming a nurse and liked to braid hair for her friends — and told him she was on her way to do just that when she was shot while sitting in a Hyundai SUV, which was parked near the park and outside PS 015 Jackie Robinson elementary school, police said.
“Usually I tell her, school days, I don’t want her going out,” her father said. “It wasn’t late, but still. They always called me old-school, but there are these kinds of problems. Too many younger people are being killed. I tried, but how much can you do?”
Claudia is one of six siblings, and was described by her dad as “very loving.”
“Claudia was a sophomore at Queens High School of Teaching and a loved member of the Jamaica Queens Community,” her aunt posted on the fundraising page.
“In her free time, Claudia enjoyed running track, dancing, styling hair, and spending time with family and friends. She was an aspiring nurse and was always compassionate towards others,” Bortey wrote.
“Claudia was always the first to offer help whenever needed.”