NEW YORK -- A New York City woman has been fatally shot trying to keep three muggers from taking her cell phone full of her husband's romantic texts.

Shazam Khan told the New York Post that his 23-year-old wife, Rabia Mohammed, likely put up a fight because she cherished the texts on her phone.

He said she had four cell phones that were full. When she didn't have any memory left, he said, she'd get a new phone.

Police said the newlyweds were walking in the Hollis section of Queens on Sunday evening when the muggers surrounded them and demanded Mohammed's purse.

Khan said he ran to Mohammed's aid, but then saw "two flashes" of gunfire. He said Mohammed was shot twice in the chest and died in his arms.

The muggers fled.