A 9-year-old girl was found dead in her Brooklyn home on Sunday afternoon with cuts and bruises to her head and bite marks on her back, the police said.
The girl was identified by the police as Shalom Guifarro, who lived on Lincoln Place in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
Her mother, who was being questioned by the police, is Shamaine Cato, 48. A police official said Ms. Cato had a history of domestic complaints, though none appeared to involve Shalom.
Neighbors described Ms. Cato as an overprotective mother who seemed troubled. They said she was known throughout the neighborhood for verbally abusing her daughter and two dogs, a pit bull and a smaller dog.
“She was crazy” said Rey Santiago, 28, a neighbor who said he had seen the mother scream at and shove her daughter in a laundromat.
The New York Police Department said that Ms. Cato had called 911 to report that her daughter was in distress.
Bart Hubbuch, who owns the restaurant Memphis Seoul, which is on the ground floor of the low-rise brick building where Ms. Cato lives, said that when he arrived early Sunday afternoon his employees reported a stench that they had assumed was a broken toilet upstairs.
Minutes after the building superintendent responded to their call, they watched him emerge from the building, ashen-faced.
Numerous emergency personnel arrived moments later, just after 1 p.m., and Shalom was pronounced dead at the scene. Also home at the time with Shalom and her mother was Ms. Cato’s other daughter, who is 13.
“They said it was a horrific crime scene,” Mr. Hubbuch said, adding that he watched police officers who appeared to be wiping away tears.
“This is so sad — that was a beautiful little girl,” said Flora Wilson, 51, a neighborhood crossing guard who was friendly with Ms. Cato and her family.
Two neighbors said that Ms. Cato was known by the nickname Serge. One neighbor, Barry Todman, 51, said she worked on Atlantic Avenue helping city residents sign up for welfare benefits. She often wore sweatshirts with the green, yellow and black Jamaican flag.
“I don’t know what the hell happened,” said Mr. Todman, who added that when he went to Ms. Cato for assistance in the summer of 2020, she had seemed kind and professional.
But Mr. Hubbuch and others said Ms. Cato was notorious around her block for yelling at her daughters. He added that he would not see the girls playing outside or with friends.
“She was always screaming at her kids so loud it would startle you,” he said, adding that he never saw her be physically abusive. “It was like, Why are you screaming at your kids like that?”
The woman’s boyfriend worked during the pandemic as a delivery driver, Mr. Hubbuch said, but had not been around for several months. He added that police officers talked to the boyfriend when he arrived at the scene on Sunday afternoon and that he walked away in distress.
A man who runs a neighborhood pantry said that Ms. Cato regularly came for food assistance. He described her as brusque and as a stern disciplinarian with her children and animals. “But I never expected anything like this,” said the man, who gave only his given name, Rob.
Three detectives could be seen entering and exiting Ms. Cato’s building late Sunday night. A police cruiser remained parked out front.
Ashley Southall contributed reporting.
