Exclusive video: Wild shootout part of violent 6-hour span in NYC

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Exclusive video: Wild shootout part of violent 6-hour span in NYC

Eyewitness News reporter NJ Burkett obtained exclusive video of a wild shootout on a Bushwick street in which five people were shot outside of a bodega.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A 15-year-old was killed and more than a dozen others shot, including at least one in every New York City borough, in a six-hour period Monday evening.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said there were nine shooting incidents, four of them in Brooklyn, with a total of 15 victims.

Eyewitness News reporter NJ Burkett obtained exclusive video of one of them, a wild shootout on a Bushwick street in which five people were shot outside of a bodega.

It happened just before 8 p.m. on Knickerbocker Avenue, and authorities say it appeared to be Trinitarios gang members shooting at a rival gang.

It is expected that some of the victims may be arrested as well.

A homeless man now charged with a hate crime for allegedly sucker punching an Asian woman outside a Chinatown restaurant Monday has 17 prior arrests.

The incident that turned deadly happened at 10:30 p.m. at 123rd and Lexington in East Harlem, where the teen was shot in the torso and a 30-year-old man shot in the knee.

Both were rushed to Harlem Hospital, where the 15-year-old was pronounced dead.

It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting, and there have been no arrests.

Additional shootings between 4:30 p.m. and 10:40 p.m. Monday included victims in each of the other New York City boroughs. They are described as follows:

--4:45 p.m.: A 36-year-old man was shot in the ankle at 145th Street and Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. He was taken Jamaica Medical Center in stable condition.

--5:40 p.m.: A 35-year-old man was shot at Eighth Avenue at West 143rd Street in Harlem. He was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.

--6 p.m.: A man in his 20s was shot in front of 835 Nostrand Avenue, at President Street, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.

--7:50 p.m.: Five men were shot in front of a bodega at 735 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick. A 25-year-old man was shot in the back, a 24-year-old man was shot in the chest, a 38-year-old man was shot in the right arm, and a 29-year-old man was shot in the right leg. Three taken Wyckoff Heights Hospital by private means, and the fourth went to Elmhurst Hospital Center. The fifth victim arrived at hospital later. Three Hispanic males fled the scene.

Derick Waller reports on the subway crimes from the Upper East Side.

--8:30 p.m.: Two people were shot at 231 Steuben Street in Concord section of Staten Island. A 19-year-old man was shot in the left arm, and a 20-year-old man was shot in the left leg. They were taken to Staten Island University Hospital in stable condition.

--10:30 p.m.: A 15-year-old was shot in the torso and a 30-year-old man in the right knee. They were taken to Harlem Hospital, where the teenager was pronounced dead.

--10:40 p.m.: A 58-year-old man was shot in the shoulder at East 157th Street and Courtlandt Avenue in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The victim is in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital.

The rising tide of gun violence touched every borough in that span, and it all comes as police have struggled for weeks to control violent assaults in the New York City transit system.

Despite the violence, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he still believes the city's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will help reduce crime.

"Recovery is going to help move public safety, public safety is going to help move recovery," he said. "I understand the fear, I really do. And there's a persistent concern which I've heard now for decades in this city of are we going to go back to the bad old days, and I really try my best to help people understand there are so many reasons why that is not going to happen."

Noted Urban Studies professor Mitchell Moss of NYU says the mayor is mistaken.

"The mayor has absolutely, absolutely got it reversed," he said. "Safety produces activity, activity is not going to produce safety, we have to make the place so safe people want to come and visit and enjoy it."

Anyone with information about any of these cases is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

You can also submit tips by visiting the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by messaging on Twitter @NYPDTips.

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