#SayHerName: Teen Used Dying Breath To Identify Man Who Shot Her After She Rejected Him

Fellas: If a woman doesn't want to be bothered with you, violence shouldn't be the answer. 

Sadly, this is what happened to teenager Shemel Mercurius all because she wasn't interested in dating a man nine years older than her. 

According to the New York Daily News, police at the scene testified in court this week that Mercurius struggled through a painful 20-minute wait for an ambulance, but in that time, she told authorities about a 25-year-old man who wanted to date her and would not take no for an answer.

The man in question is Taariq Stephens.  The 25-year-old has been charged with murdering Shemel in May of 2016. She was just a junior at Edward R. Murrow High School. So sad.

At the time of the shooting, Shemel was babysitting her 3-year-old cousin when authorities say Stephens broke into into the apartment and shot her three times with a submachine gun. YES, A SUBMACHINE GUN. 

“There was a 3-year-old male child … covered in blood crying next to the victim,” Police Sgt. Ryan Habermeh told the jury. 

He added: “It took about 20 minutes for EMS to arrive.”

Another officer, Kyle Thomas Daly, said that when he found Shemel, she was bleeding and was seated on a toy car and slumped against the wall.

“I put on gloves, took her off the car and laid her down and began rendering aid … she regained consciousness, gave me her name and date of birth.”

According to police, Shemel went in and out of consciousness, but in that time, she told them that Stephens wanted them to be a couple but she wasn’t interested.

The Daily News reported that one of Shemel’s friends, Lona Junien, was a witness. That same day she came to see Shemel, but when she was buzzed into the building, someone overpowered her. Police believe that someone was Stephens. 

“The person pushed her. The person said, ‘Don’t ever lie to me.’ She was screaming; he took out the gun and shot her,” Junien told the jury. But here's the deal with that. 

During cross examination, Junien admitted to Stephens' lawyer that a detective had identified Stephens as the shooter before she had a chance to identify him for herself.

Will that matter to the jury? That remains to be seen. 

In the meantime, Stephens is facing charges of second-degree murder and weapons charges. If convicted, could serve 25 years to life in prison.

The trial is expected to last a week or so.

Of course, folks on Twitter had a lot to say about this:

Prayers up for Shemel's family. No one should have to lose a child this way. 

FAM: What do you think about this trial? Weigh in...