Shalema (Paul Martinka)
SHOCK: Asthma-stricken Saniyah Gaskin-Miley (left) lies in Brookdale Hospital yesterday, unaware her mom, Shalema (near right), was shot dead outside. (
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A hospital visit for a young Brooklyn girl’s asthma attack ended in unimaginable horror yesterday — when her mom was executed by a coldblooded killer right outside the back door, cops said.
The killer shot Shalema Gaskin, 32, once in the neck at around 3:10 a.m. and calmly strolled away. Gaskin was rushed back inside Brookdale Hospital, where she died in the emergency room.
“This is a hospital!” said Tanya Gaskin, 50, the victim’s mom. “We come here for help — not to have our people killed right outside.”
“I want answers,” said Tanya. “It’s not fair to have her life taken, and for no one to have answers.”
Shalema Gaskin and her longtime boyfriend, Mark Miley, brought their young daughter, Saniyah Gaskin-Miley, to the Brownsville hospital on Monday morning after the child suffered an asthma attack.
Gaskin went back home to check on her two other daughters — ages 6 and 18 — and returned just before 2 a.m. yesterday.
About an hour later, she went downstairs and out a back door while Miley with Saniyah.
“My daughter came out outside, probably to smoke a cigarette,” said Tanya.
The killer did not take anything from Gaskin, who was carrying an iPhone.
“I’m upset and hurt and confused,” said Gaskin’s oldest child, Tamara. “All I want is my mom back. She was a great mother. If something was wrong, she always knew. She was always there when we needed her.
“Why would someone do this?”
Gaskin’s boyfriend was too upset to speak with reporters yesterday.
Her aunt, Lila Evans, said Miley had been in a committed, decade-long relationship with the ill-fated woman.
“He treated her like a queen,” said Evans. “He loves Shalema. He loves his girls, too.”
After hearing Gaskin was dead, Miley said, “Take my heart and give it to her,” Evans recalled. “He wanted her to live. He always told Shalema that ‘you will always be in my heart. You will always be in my life. You are the love of my life.’ ”
Gaskin’s family said she was unemployed but previously worked for three years with the city’s immigration-services office. She was hoping to get a job as a security guard — like her mom — while pursuing a sociology degree.
“She took care of her girls. She paid for [Tamara’s] college out of her own pocket,” said Evans.
Gaskin’s family set up a shrine of balloons, candles and three teddy bears — one for each of her daughters — at the scene.
Detectives were searching around surrounding buildings and under sewer grates for evidence.