A mother of five killed after a shooter opened fire into a crowd in Brooklyn was fatally struck just moments after being jumped by a group of her ex-boyfriend’s relatives, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Sofronie Hartzog, 33, was shot in the back on Howard Ave. near Bergen St. in Crown Heights, where about 100 people celebrating a family day event at the Kingsborough Houses gathered around 2:20 a.m., cops said.
Courtesy of family
Sofronie Hartzog, 33, was fatally shot in Brooklyn on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (Courtesy of family)
Just a few minutes earlier, the victim had been hanging out with the crowd when she was attacked by a group of up to five women believed to be related to an ex-boyfriend Hartzog had recently broken up with, Kenny said.
After the attack, Hartzog and some friends rushed back to her car, where a person she was with retrieved a loaded weapon and fired into the air, according to the chief.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Sofronie Hartzog was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital after she was shot in the back and ran wounded into the Ooh La La Lounge and Bar in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
It was then that someone in the other group fired into the crowd, striking Hartzog, Kenny said.
The victim was on the phone with her sister, recounting the run-in with her ex’s relatives, when the shots rang out, the chief said.
After Hartzog was shot, a person in her group fired in retaliation, striking a 34-year-old man, George Poag, in the stomach, Kenny said.
Wounded, Hartzog ran into the Ooh La La Lounge and Bar where she collapsed in the bathroom.
Medics rushed her to Brookdale University Hospital, where she died shortly after 3 a.m.
“How do you tell five kids that is 10 and under that their mother is deceased?” said the victim’s aunt Amy Hartzog.
Poag made his way back home before changing clothes and heading to Kings County Hospital for his stomach wound. He was in stable condition.
“It’s traumatizing,” he said when reached by the Daily News hours later. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Police recovered a firearm near the Kingsborough Houses they believe was used to fire on Hartzog. The other weapon has not been found.
There were no arrests.
Neighbors in an apartment building in Flushing, Queens, where Hartzog’s relatives live, and where she often visited, were shocked by her slaying.
“I’m upset, I’m sad. I just seen her,” said a 58-year-old neighbor who gave her name as only Crystal M. “I’m so heartbroken. She’s a good mom. She was funny, lighthearted, friendly. We talk.”
“She always seemed happy,” she added. “I’m so sad to know that them kids are without a mother. I’m really heartbroken for the kids.”