A young couple shot dead in an apparent murder-suicide in a Queens apartment had a stormy relationship, with neighbors saying their shouting matches could be heard throughout the building.
Keyriana Jimenez Rodriguez, 18, and her 20-year-old boyfriend were found dead in an 84th St. apartment near 34th Ave. in Jackson Heights around 1:50 a.m., cops said.
In the moments before they were killed, witnesses overheard arguing, followed by several shots being fired, according to a law enforcement source.
“They were always fighting. It was terrible,” said a 63-year-old neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld. “They would shout awful things at one another. Everyone could hear. It was continual.”
The boyfriend’s 19-year-old brother, who was in another room at their sixth-floor apartment, and a neighbor called 911 after hearing the shots.
Police believe the man shot his girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself. The man’s name was not immediately released.
“He had serious problems with his girlfriend. He couldn’t contain his emotions,” said a 65-year-old neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. “I couldn’t believe it because he said he was happy he had just found a job.”
“I only met his girlfriend once or twice,” he added. “She seemed nice.”
Rodriguez’s family hails from the Dominican Republic, where they were horrified to learn of her death, according to a local news outlet.
“This has been a massive shock for the family,” the victim’s father, Kelvin Adrián Jiménez, told Info El Nuevo Norte in Spanish.
The girl’s grandmother, Adriana de la Cruz, said in Spanish that she “absolutely adored” Rodriguez, whom she remembered as “more than a granddaughter, like a daughter.”
Rodriguez was reportedly living in the United States with her mother. Neighbors said her boyfriend lived with his father and two brothers, but were unsure whether couple lived together.
An online fundraiser was created Wednesday to benefit Rodriguez’s family and pay her funeral expenses.
“Keyriana will be remembered for her light, her spirit, and the love she left behind in every person who had the privilege of knowing her,” the GoFundMe post read.
The city medical examiner will conduct autopsies on Rodriguez and her boyfriend to determine their cause of death.
The murder weapon along with bullets were recovered by cops from the scene.