Brother of man shot on birthday after Bronx party witnessed the slaying, was also wounded

The younger brother of a gunned-down man celebrating his birthday in the Bronx witnessed the killing and was also injured by the gunman, the siblings’ heartbroken mother revealed Monday.

Keon Gill and his 25-year-old brother had just left a nightclub near W. 242nd Street and Broadway in Riverdale when they were shot shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, police said.

“One is dead. One could have been dead,” said his mother, Brenda Gill, 68. “It really wasn’t good.”

Keon turned 44 the day he was killed and was celebrating his birthday in the Bronx, where he lived, with friends and his brother, his mother said. He currently lived in Middletown, New York, in Orange County, about 70 miles north of the city.

Brenda last spoke to Keon on Friday.

“He said, ‘Mom, I’ll see you later. Are you going to cook for me on Sunday?'” she recalled. “I said. ‘Yeah, it’s your birthday.’ Then he said, “I love you, Mom.” I’ll talk to you later.’

“I never got a chance to say happy birthday, have the cake,” she added.

A fight broke out between the killer and the brothers before shots rang out, police said. Gill, who was shot in the chest, died a short time later at St. Barnabas Hospital. His brother, shot in the leg and scratched on the head, survived after being rushed to the same hospital.

The brothers had stopped at a store outside the club and were walking to their car parked near Van Cortlandt Park for the trip home when they were confronted by the shooter, their mother said.

“The bullet went through his heart and hit his lung and he died,” Keon’s mother said. “There were three bullets. One went through my youngest son’s ear and grazed the top of his head. It’s crazy.”

After he was shot, “Keon ran but he took off his coat and he said, ‘Call mom, I can’t breathe,'” his mother said. “He fell. The ambulance arrived.”

Keon’s injured brother is now at home recovering.

There were no arrests. The motive for the shooting remains a mystery.

“He went to a party,” Keon’s mother said. “I think (the killers) are trying to rob these boys because they’re wearing nice things. Just don’t run around killing people. It’s really not fair to the families… It’s not acceptable.”

Keon was the father of four children, two sons and two daughters, who are heartbroken by the death of their father.

“Now I have to bury him,” his mother said. “His children ask me: ‘Grandma, why? Grandma, please wake him up.’ I can’t wake him up. I wish I could wake him up. I can’t wake him up.

Keon was a talented athlete who traveled across the country to play high school basketball, his ex-wife, who is the mother of his three older children, told the Daily News.

“You have to be good,” ex-wife Mahogany Gill, 44, said of her high school journey. “You absolutely have to be good.”

The victim continued to play ball into adulthood with the Middletown YMCA Men’s League, which honored him after his death with a commemorative jersey his team will play in during the upcoming season.

“Every time we step onto the field, every time we compete, every time we gather at the park or in the gyms, we carry you with us,” the YMCA men’s league posted on Instagram. “Your initials are in our hearts and now on our jerseys, forever.”

Keon shared his passion for the game with his oldest son, also named Keon, who played basketball at Middletown High School before playing college ball at Jarvis Christian College in Texas.

“His son followed him,” Mahogany said. “He has three kids in college.”

The victim devoted his life to his children, giving up his own academic ambitions to raise his children, his ex-wife said.

“He was going to college and we ended up having kids, so he gave them away first. … Having kids young, you give up those dreams and those opportunities to raise a family,” Mahogany said. “That’s what we did. One thing he wanted to instill in his children, he wanted them to be better than him and he wanted them to get an education and go to college.”

“They are so hurt,” she added. “My kids are just devastated. He was a role model to his kids. His kids looked up to him and he looked up to his kids. His kids meant everything to him in this world.”