A 23-year-old woman was killed and her infant daughter critically hurt when they were pushed off the balcony of their 15th-floor Bronx apartment Tuesday, police said.
Nathaly Ramirez and her 8-month-old daughter were thrown from their balcony on Olinville Ave. near Allerton Ave. at 3:38 a.m., cops said.
“The mother landed on her feet. She was still holding the baby,” one neighbor, who wished not to be named, said as he described the grisly scene. “I saw them when they took them out. The baby was still hanging on. The baby was still alive.”
Cops are looking to question a boyfriend she recently split up with but have not labeled him a suspect, according to police sources. Ramirez’s death has been deemed a homicide by the NYPD, but no arrests have been made.
An upstairs neighbor said the victim was arguing with a man on the balcony shortly before she fell.
“They were both on the terrace. She was holding the baby. She told him to leave her alone. She was telling him, ‘Stop, you’re scaring the baby,’” said Nancy Morales, 69, who overheard the quarrel from her balcony on the 16th floor.
The man she was arguing with was “using the f-word,” Morales remembered.
“He said, ‘You want me to do it? You want me to do it?’” she recalled. “I was scared. I just said a prayer and went to sleep.”
Nathaly Ramirez, 23. (Facebook)
Police said Ramirez and the infant were found on the ground outside the 18-story building with severe injuries.
Officers rushed the baby to Jacobi Medical Center, where she is in critical condition.
Medics rushed Ramirez to the same hospital, but she could not be saved.
Barry Williams / New York Daily News
A 23-year-old woman was killed and a baby girl was critically hurt in a plunge from a 15th-floor balcony (circled) in an apartment building on Olinville Ave. in the Bronx early Tuesday. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
The victim’s mother collapsed sobbing after arriving at the building and learning her daughter was the victim. “That’s my daughter!” she screamed as cops held her back from entering the victim’s apartment.
Rebecca White / New York Daily News
The mother of victim Nathaly Ramirez collapses outside her apartment on Olinville Ave. in the Bronx after learning of her daughter’s death. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
Multiple neighbors told the Daily News they had frequently heard fighting coming from the apartment. Cops said they have never been to Ramirez’s Olinville Ave. apartment, but a law enforcement source said she was listed as a victim in four prior domestic violence incidents at other locations.
Ramirez went to Bronx Leadership Academy High School before studying psychology at Baruch College, according to her LinkedIn page. She also interned at Lishawn’s Consulting, a Brooklyn-based business management consulting company.
“I am so saddened to learn of her tragic death this afternoon. It is such a loss for my team and I,” said Lishawn Alexander, owner of Lishawn’s Consulting. “Words cannot truly express my sorrow. Ms. Ramirez was a team player in its truest sense. She made such a positive contribution to Lishawn’s Consulting, and her pleasant and happy memories will never be forgotten.”
A distraught 44-year-old neighbor who gave her name only as Katrina described Ramirez as petite.
“She was very sweet, very calm, mild-mannered,” she said of Ramirez. “It’s very sad. She’s super young. To lose your life like that is very tragic. I’m hoping they find the person that is responsible.”
“Her daughter was very, very sweet,” she said of the infant clinging to life. “Very, very cute.”
Last year, Ramirez’s dog ran off and was never found, said Katrina, who helped Ramirez put up missing posters.
“She was going to any lengths to find out what happened to her dog,” Katrina said. “She obviously was a kind-hearted person.”
