16 Years Old American Dancer, Zion Willis Shoots Herself To Death With A Gun

A 16-year-old girl killed in a Bronx apartment was looking down the barrel of a pistol when she shot herself in the mouth, the Daily News has learned.



Zion Willis, described by family members as a “beautiful person” who once danced for the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was examining the gun when it went off inside a fourth-floor apartment on E. 171st St. near College Ave. in Mount Eden Thursday evening, officials said.

She died at the scene, officials said.

The man who owned the gun, 42-year-old Dale Weston, ran off after the shooting and was still being sought by authorities Friday, officials said.

The tragedy began shortly after 6 p.m. as Willis visited the 18-year-old sister of Weston’s girlfriend, who lived at the apartment, police sources said.

As the two girls hung out in a room, Weston came in, showed them the .40-caliber pistol and then left the weapon in the room when he was called away, the 18-year-old told police.

When the doomed teen picked the gun up to look at it, staring straight down the barrel, it went off, the teen told police.

At least three adults, as well as some children, were in the apartment but in other rooms when the gun went off, police sources said.

In the confusion, Weston, who has been arrested more than 20 times stretching back to 1990, mostly for robbery and drug offenses, fled the building.

The gun also disappeared — and police believe Weston took it with him, sources said.