Shootings spike: Yet another gun violence death in NYC as surge persists
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The recent spike in gun violence in New York City shows no sign of ending, with yet another fatal shooting Tuesday morning and another incident in which a 15-year-old was shot in the back.
Police say that since Friday, at least 12 people were killed in roughly 50 shootings across all five boroughs.
The 27-year-old man was found dead just before noon Tuesday near the tennis court in Lincoln Terrace Park, located at East New York Avenue and Buffalo Avenue in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.
Detectives are looking for a man last seen wearing a black tank top and black shorts who fled eastbound on East New York Avenue in a white Chrysler. No gun was recovered, and no arrests were made.
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Police also released a picture of a bullet and a bullet hole in the wall of a little girl's bedroom in Harlem from random gunfire on the Fourth of July.
Gunfire also struck three vehicles and at least one other front door, but luckily, the girl was not home at the time of the 3:20 p.m. shooting and no one was injured
Authorities say 31-year-old Dawon Brown was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment.
Also Tuesday, a 15-year-old male was shot in the lower back on Mapes Avenue in the Bronx around 3:30 p.m.
He was rushed to Jacobi's Pediatric Center and is expected to survive, but he is not cooperating with police at this time.
Two suspects between 15 and 20 years old, one armed with a silver gun and one with what appeared to be a black semi automatic, fled northbound on Prospect Avenue on a Revel scooter.
OTHER VIOLENCE THIS WEEK
Another shooting outside a NYCHA complex Friday in Brooklyn has police searching for the man who opened fire moments after a child walked inside the apartment building.
And in Queens, local leaders are sounding off after a 14-year-old boy was shot in St. Albans Monday. The teen was shot multiple times in the abdomen and neck, and police are still looking for two suspects who fled the scene.
In another highly disturbing shooting, 29-year-old Anthony Robinson was walking with his daughter on East 170th Street in the Bronx just before 6 p.m. when a car pulled up and a gunman opened fire out the window.
The video shows the girl running for cover as Robinson falls to the ground.
Authorities say Robinson, who reportedly has many prior arrests, was pronounced dead at BronxCare Health System. The child was not physically harmed.
It all comes on top of an extremely bloody holiday weekend, where 11 people were killed and dozens of others were injured.
Investigators believe the incidents -- and the vast majority of these recent shootings -- are the result of gang violence. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea is blaming jail reforms and the release of prisoners from Rikers due to coronavirus.
"We have a lot, a lot of crew and gang violence," Bronx DA Darcel Clark said. "People don't know how to settle disputes. They only know how to settle it with guns."
The NYPD met with the five district attorneys Monday as they tried to tackle the problem.
"The mayor released those on Rikers Island, but he went overboard and released too many," Staten Island DA Michael McMahon said.
The count on shootings was more than double this June compared to last year -- 205 in 2020 vs. 89 in 2019.
The NYPD and prosecutors are calling on the community to help as they search for the many gun violence suspects.
Calling the amount of violence in the city this weekend unacceptable, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said they are working to get guns off the street but added that rhetoric from a small majority of people is hurting police. He says that when officers go to make arrests, people are ready to fight them.
He also said a new law banning chokeholds is worded so poorly that officers are afraid of making arrests.
"They are afraid if they're making an arrest, that if their knee goes on the back of someone that they're fighting their life, for that they can be prosecuted," he said. "That's a problem."
The city's main jail complex emptied due to coronavirus, and Shea said that population was "transplanted" to the streets.
"Look at the Rikers population of the last year, it's about half," he said. "Where is that other half right now? We've transplanted the general population to the streets of New York City, and it's extremely frustrating."
While the NYPD has made approximately 40,000 fewer overall arrests so far this year compared with last year, gun arrests year-to-date as of July 5 are 1,679 vs. 1,683 last year.
"The sharp increase in shootings and violence in New York puts innocent people at risk and tears at the fabric of life in our city," Shea said. "The challenges are great for an NYPD facing the strain of deep budget cuts, changes to the criminal justice system that are impacting the courts and the continuing international health pandemic. But through it all, I have seen our hardworking men and women display an unwavering commitment to the kind of fair and effective policing that defines our agency and that New Yorkers expect and deserve."
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