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Bronx Man Shot and Killed While Defending Mother, Family Says

By Ben Fractenberg | March 17, 2014 8:29pm
 Tony Burgess, 24, was shot and killed while defending his mother from a group of men who were harassing her Sunday night, police and family members said.
Tony Burgess, 24, was shot and killed while defending his mother from a group of men who were harassing her Sunday night, police and family members said.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

MELROSE —  A Bronx man was shot and killed after fighting with a group of men who harassed his mother for singing outside of their apartment building Sunday night, police and family members said.

Tony Burgess, 24, was shot in the head about 9:19 p.m. after defending his mom outside 562 Morris Ave, police said.

Verbena Burgess was singing Chris Brown's "Take You Down" outside when a group of three young men told her to "shut the f**k up" and then threw a bottle at her, the grieving mother told DNAinfo New York Monday.

She then told the young men to leave her alone or else she would call the police and her two sons ran downstairs to defend her.

She went back to her apartment until a neighbor franticly told her to come downstairs because her son Tony just got shot.

"Tony was sweet. He never bothered nobody," Verbena Burgess said about her son.

She said that the men who shot her son live across the street and she would see them on an almost daily basis.

Friends and neighbors gathered in the lobby of Burgess' building Monday night and lit candles beneath a memorial to Tony.

"He was always taking care of his mom," said neighbor Nancy Chase. "He stayed to himself. I never saw him outside."

Other people express disbelief that the young men would shoot Tony over an argument.

"These kids got no respect, no honor," said another neighbor, who declined to give his name.

Tony Burgess was rushed to Lincoln Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

There were no immediate arrests and the investigation is ongoing, police said.