Former baseball draft pick for Oakland Michael Nolan shot possibly over drag race in Yonkers
YONKERS, N.Y. (WABC) -- A 23-year-old Yonkers man is in critical condition after he was shot in the head and the arm early Friday morning.
Michael Nolan was a 2014 draft pick for the Oakland Athletics. Now, he's fighting for his life in a Bronx hospital as investigators try to figure out what prompted the violence.
Nolan was wounded near Cross County Shopping Center outside a Burger King. He was standing in the parking lot at his car with several other people. Police stress it was not a random shooting, but whether Nolan was the intended target is still not known.
"The driver pointed a gun out the window and fired five or six shots," Chief of Investigations Timothy Hodges said.
Members of his family were overcome with emotion as they came to the scene.
"I don't want to say it, but I might have to make the decision to donate his organs," dad Jimmy Nolan said. "I gotta do that."
Police now believe the shooting stemmed from a dispute between two groups of people on Wednesday night.
"We believe it was associated with some type of drag racing that occurred in the area," Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles Gardner said. "It's our belief that this shooting is the result of the prior dispute. We are trying to ascertain whether this individual was the actual intended target."
Nolan was standing with several other people when police say the gunman drove by on the service road and opened fire.
"He didn't deserve this," friend Nicholas Guarriello said. "We were close friends. It just kills me to see how people always go after people who chase their dreams the most."
Police say they are collecting evidence, interviewing a number of eyewitnesses and checking social media as their investigation widens. They also described the car they are looking for as a two-door white or pale yello Honda, somewhere around 2000 and 2007.
There have been no arrests in the case, and anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact detectives at 914-377-7724.
