Young Brooklyn Mom Dies After City Paramedics Fail to Locate Gunshot Wound

EAST NEW YORK, NY — It's still not clear what happened in the 17 minutes between 12:42 a.m. and 12:59 a.m. Wednesday night, during which time city paramedics were in charge of saving Salaya Figueroa's life. What is clear: A little over two hours later, around 2:50 a.m., the 27-year-old mother of three was declared dead from a gunshot wound at Brookdale University Hospital, police said.

A spokesman for the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) said the department received a 911 call reporting someone shot at 1308 Loring Ave. (one of the Pink Houses buildings) just after 12:34 a.m.

Paramedics working for the FDNY arrived on scene eight minutes later, the spokesman said.

Figueroa's grandmother, Odessa Figueroa, told the New York Daily News that she heard the paramedics repeating out loud that Figueroa hadn't actually been shot, because they couldn't find her wound.

"They put her on her back and they kept saying she wasn’t shot," the 63-year-old told the Daily News. "So the bullet just damaged other organs and she bled internally."

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According to the FDNY, it was only during the ambulance ride to Brookdale University Hospital that paramedics discovered Figueroa was, indeed, in serious condition due to a gunshot wound. They informed Brookdale staff of her condition when the ambulance arrived to the hospital around 1 a.m., an FDNY spokesman said.

Figueroa died under sedation as she waited for a CAT scan, at 2:51 a.m., sources told the Daily News.

A representative from Brookdale said she couldn't discuss a patient's medical records over the phone.

However, the victim's sister-in-law, Sheneik McCallum, said doctors at Brookdale performed emergency surgery on Figueroa before she died.

"She couldn't be saved," McCallum wrote. "This is a very sad time for our family... Not only did Salaya leave behind lots of friends and family who loved her dearly, three young gorgeous children who will be in need of love and support (ages 9, 7, and 4 years old). These children are now left without a mother to care for them."

The GoFundMe had raised over $1,000 by Thursday afternoon, of the $5,000 goal.

Family and friends of Figueroa took to social media to mourn the loss of the young mother — another innocent victim of gun violence in East New York.

Figueroa was shot in the housing project where Akai Gurley was killed by an NYPD officer in 2014, giving way to both grief and outrage. The officer was given no jail time for his crime.

East New York has seen a slight uptick in murders this year, according to NYPD data. There were 22 murders in the 75th precinct, which encompasses East New York, through the end of November — four more than during the same time period in 2015.

Photos via GoFundMe