1 dead, 4 injured in drive-by shooting in Brownsville
BROWNSVILLE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police in Brooklyn are searching for a gunman who opened fire from his car late Wednesday, killing one young man and injuring four others.
The shooting happened just before midnight outside 333 Bristol Street in Brownsville, where an SUV with two people inside pulled up and one began firing.
Five men ranging in age between 18 and 21 were shot. They were rushed to area hospitals, where an 18-year-old victim was pronounced dead. Four others remain hospitalized at Kings County and Brookdale hospitals.
Officers remained at the scene Thursday collecting evidence, and there were a dozen shell casings on the ground spanning from one side of the block to the other.
A woman who spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News said that her son was struck five times but survived the shooting.
"I feel disgusted," Laneka Spencer said. "I don't even know how to feel. I haven't slept yet. It's hard to feel anyway, when your child is getting shot in the streets and there's nothing nobody can do or say."
Three people are in stable condition, while the fourth is critical after he was shot in the head. The family told Eyewitness News there is nothing more that can be done for him, and that they now much make the agonizing decision to remove him from life support.
"They want me to tell them to pull the plug or they want me to say OK give up," the victim's father Stanley McIntyre said. "But I cannot give up, I cannot say pull the plug."
Police believe they found the blue SUV the suspect was riding in, but the manhunt continues for the gunman and driver. The vehicle was located after a man and woman reported their car being struck by a hit-and-run driver. They took down the vehicle's license plate number, and it turned out to be a blue Hyundai SUV that matched the description of the one involved in the shooting.
"I am confident that this is the vehicle that was used by the people or the person that is responsible for the shooting," NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Kemper said.
Police say they are working to get a warrant to search the vehicle. It is not yet known what led to the shooting.
"Anyone who believes that they are going to come into our neighborhoods and engage in violence, in particular gun violence, we're going to go after them," NYPD Assistant Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said.
NYPD officials added that they plan to increase community policing in the area as a result of the shooting.
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