Fiancé of Bronx woman killed protecting her kids 'hurt' by loss

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1 Fiancé of Bronx woman killed protecting her kids 'hurt' by loss BY DENIS SLATTERY REECE WILLIAMS NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, June 26, 2016, 4:00 AM Damian Bell lost his ancée to a playground shooting in the Bronx earlier this month. (PHOTO COURTESY OF DIANA VOID) Damian Bell and Jessica White were high school sweethearts nally ready to tie the knot, making good on their four-year engagement. The Bronx couple, along with their three young children, were looking forward to getting back on their feet and into an apartment of their own. But a single bullet brought those plans to a sudden and tragic end. We were right at the point where we were ready to do it this summer, to get married, and make that jump, Bell told the Daily News. But White, 29, was killed by a stray bullet on June 11 in a playground at the John Adams Houses in Longwood while shielding her three children from gun re. Her own mother looked on in horror as she crumpled and fell to the ground. I don t know how to feel about my environment, said Bell, 31. I don t know how to perceive where I grew up. It s hard now. 1/6

2 Jessica White was shot and killed protecting her kids, who were playing when a gunman opened re on June 11. (FACEBOOK) I feel, as a parent, you should be able to walk your kids to the store at 2:30 in the morning and count stars without having to worry, he added. It was only 10:30 p.m. when White was in the playground with the couple s kids; Danielle, 9, Jessiah, 5, and 3-year-old Damian Jr. Bell had been with the kids all day, so White wanted to take them outside when she returned from work. She brought them to see her mom at the John Adams Houses, a few blocks from Bell s mother s apartment, where the family had been staying. As the kids played, a man dressed in black and wearing a ski mask walked into the playground and opened re. Gola White, Jessica White s mother, said that her daughter jumped up, and screamed Mommy! Go get the kids, before a bullet tore through her body just below her heart. Police sources suspect that the shooting was gang-related and directed at a group of young men who were sitting nearby. He didn t have a care in the world, he said of Jessica s killer. That family has been broken, said Diana Void, Bell s mother. Now, Damian has to raise those kids alone. White and Bell met as teenagers. They became best friends. We were young, Bell said. She went to Clinton, and I was at Rice High School. They fell in love. 2/6

3 Damian Bell is now raising his kids Danielle, Jessiah and Damien Jr. as a single dad in the wake of Jessica's murder. (COURTESY OF DIANA VOID) Gola White (second from right), Jessica's mother, is comforted by family and friends at the scene where Jessica was shot and killed. (ANGUS MORDANT FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) After Jessica graduated, the couple had their rst daughter. They both started working, with the goal of renting their own apartment. They struggled. 3/6

4 We went in the shelter a couple of times, Bell said. But, the young parents managed to rent their rst place, where they welcomed two more to their family: another daughter, and then a son. Suddenly a family of ve, they struggled nancially. It s harder to budget money, and take care of things, Bell said. They moved in with Bell s mother to save money; the same Longwood apartment he grew up in. But tragedy struck just as the pair were ready for a change. Damian Bell has a tattoo of his children's names. (REECE WILLIAMS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) I don t want to be here anymore, Bell said, tears welling in his eyes. It s hard for me to go outside. This is the rst time it hit home. Bell is unemployed. He had a job offer from Shake Shack the same restaurant at which Jessica worked six days a week but said that he couldn t accept it at the time. The single father said that the biggest challenge has been talking to the kids about what happens now. Danielle, the oldest, has been strong, according to Bell. She can tell that I m hurt, so she tries to take the place of Mommy a little bit, he said. She knows she s my best friend, outside of Mommy. Without even having to ask, she knows that we ve just got to be tighter. Bell recently bought a pit bull puppy for the family in an attempt to up the children s spirits. They named it Jessie, he said. After their mother New York Daily News 4/6

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