By Joe Anuta
A drive-by shooting on the Grand Central Parkway early Sunday morning claimed the life of a New Jersey mother, police said.
At 3:43 a.m., police received a call that a 21-year-old woman with a single gunshot wound to the head had arrived at Elmhurst Hospital Center via car, according to police.
Stephanie Taveras, of New Jersey, was pronounced dead on arrival, the NYPD said.
Taveras, a former Queens resident who recently moved to New Jersey, had been partying with an 26-year-old man named Rafael Herrera she had met Saturday night, according to the New York Post.
The two left the party in another woman’s 2007 white BMW and were driving westbound on the Grand Central Parkway when Herrera told cops a dark SUV approached near Exit 9W and started peppering the car with bullets from an unknown weapon, according to the NYPD.
Police said the car was hit at least 10 times before the SUV sped off and Herrera drove to the hospital.
Taveras had two young children and had just moved to Irvington, N.J., the Post reported.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
