5 dead in 4 hours in shootings

Five men were killed in separate shootings that erupted on the streets of New York City during a violent four-hour streak, police said.

The slayings occurred between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 1 a.m. Wednesday, including three in the city's Brooklyn borough and two in the Bronx, according to the New York Police Department.

No arrests have been announced in any of the homicides.

The latest killing occurred just after 1 a.m. Wednesday in the Fordham Heights neighborhood of the Bronx when police said two gunmen on dirt bikes opened fire on a 34-year-old man standing in front of his apartment building, police said.

Officers called to the scene found the man shot in the torso and unconscious, according to the NYPD. The victim, identified as Melquan Cooper, was taken to Saint Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

About a half-hour earlier, a 24-year-old man was found shot in the torso outside a home in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn, police said. The man, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, police said. No further details were released on the homicide.

The string of fatal shootings started around 9:13 p.m. Tuesday, when police officers were called to investigate a report of shots fired in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn and found a 26-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest outside a New York City Housing Authority complex, according to the NYPD. The man was taken to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, where he died, police said.

The man's name was not immediately released and homicide investigators were working Wednesday to identify suspects.

More gunfire rang out at 10:46 p.m. Tuesday outside an apartment building in the Wakefield neighborhood of the Bronx, police said. Officers, who responded to a 911 call of a person shot, discovered a 31-year-old man unconscious and with a gunshot wound to the torso, according to the NYPD. The victim was pronounced dead at Saint Barnabas Hospital, police said.

The victim's name was not immediately released, pending notification of his relatives.

Another fatal shooting happened about 11:10 p.m. Tuesday outside an apartment building in the Ocean Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, police said. Officers discovered a 29-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.

The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

The latest NYPD crime statistics show that as of Sunday, 222 homicides have occurred across New York City this year, a nearly 8% decrease from the same period as last year.