The Brooklyn mother of 13 who was killed while protecting children against a slew of bullets also lost two brothers to gun violence.
Zuran Horton, 33, was killed outside a supermarket on Pitkin Avenue and Watkins Street in Brownsville after picking up her 11-year-old daughter from her elementary school down the street.
Police say she hovered over the crowd of school children when shots were fired, and died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
The New York Post spoke over the weekend to Horton's mother, Denise Peace, who shared the sad family history that killed her two other children.
"All three children died from gunfire," the 54-year-old health-care worker told The Post.
In 1991, she lost her 16-year-old son, Quan, who was shot in a robbery for his "8-ball" jacket in Bushwick. Another son, Zacquran, was shot and killed in the same neighborhood last year.
“I’m so mad that I get numb,” Peace said. “I don’t know how I feel. I have to be strong for my grandchildren. I have not broken down yet.”
Horton's 15-year-old daughter Jenisha told the paper that she walked by her mother as she lay dead on the street without knowing who was underneath the sheet.
"I was wondering where my mother was," she said. "I found out later [the body] was my mother."
"I'm trying to be strong, keep my head up," she added. "That how my mom taught me."
Police are still looking for two men in connection with the shooting, and believe the incident was gang related.
The school's neighborhood, Brownsville, is located in southeastern Brooklyn and is among the most crime-plagued in the city.
The mother of the girl who was shot told USA LOCAL NEWS that "her face is opened up and she's scared to death. She's only a little girl."
The child's aunt said "somebody has died, my niece could have died, and another woman along with that could have died."
The investigation is continuing. Police are offering a $12,000 reward.
Stay with USA LOCAL NEWS on this developing story. Follow us on Twitter @NBCNewYork and at Facebook/NBCNewYork.
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