For weeks, the family of Excenia Mette say they cautioned her about stepping in to de-escalate violence outside her Harlem home.

“My sister was just the type of person that would run in a fire to get whoever,” Diane London, Mette’s sister, said. “We, as her family, have tried to get her to stop because the feeling of the environment out here was not conducive to her interjecting herself.”

But when she heard an argument outside her apartment Tuesday night, her sister says she couldn’t help but make sure her grandson was OK.

“She was not afraid. She wanted to see change, and she knew in order to see change she had to be a part of that change, and her life was taken because she wanted to see change,” London said.

Police say when the 61-year-old grandmother stepped outside, she was shot in head by a stray bullet.

Her grandson Jarian Jordan says he was inside the apartment when he heard that fatal gunshot.

“She loved this community with everything. With everything. Her air, her feet, her soul, her mind, everything,” Jordan said.

Jordan along with London, who is his aunt, were joined by community members, near a still active crime scene, holding a vigil to call for safer streets.

A 23-year-old man was also shot in the foot and taken into custody by police.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Eric Adams visited the crime scene. He says the man has been arrested before.

“Last year, he was arrested for stabbing two people during what appeared to be a robbery,” Adams said.

As the family mourns the loss of their loved one, they say it’s possible Mette tried to help her killer get on the right path.

“She’s made a difference, and I think those who did it are also sorry,” London said.

Mette was also a member of the National Action Network.

They released a statement saying, in part, “we must stop the violence” and “we must protect each other.”