Family members of an 18-year-old Brooklyn man slain in a Saturday night shooting are demanding justice and better police protection.
Krystal Childs fought back tears during a May 19 press conference as she spoke of her late son, Zanir, 18, who was killed in a double shooting along New Jersey Avenue in East New York on the night of May 17.
“It was his brother, myself and him,” Krystal Childs recalled. “He absolutely loved football; he also loved his friends and family. He took care of his grandmother as an 18-year-old. He did it for about five years now, and my mom is paralyzed.”
Zanir Childs, 18, of Wortman Avenue in Brooklyn, had suffered a gunshot wound to his torso. Members of Engine Company 290, who also responded to render aid initially, found the victim in cardiac arrest.
EMS rushed Childs to Kings County Hospital, where he died a short time later. A second shooting victim, an 18-year-old woman, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the right arm.
Saturday’s double shooting was one of two outbursts of gun violence that happened in the 75th Precinct during the weekend.
About 24 hours after the deadly shooting in East New York, cops responded to a double shooting on the night of May 18 inside Highland Park in Cypress Hills. There, an 18-year-old man was shot in the right forearm, and a 15-year-old boy was hit in the left thigh. Both victims were hospitalized in stable condition.
No arrests have been made in either shooting. Based on CompStat figures, the 75th Precinct has seen 15 shootings year-to-date through May 18, down from 18 at the same point in 2023. However, those 15 shootings this year resulted in 21 victims.
Reverend Kevin McCall, who joined the Childs family at the May 19 press conference, said the NYPD needed to do more to keep the communities of the 75th Precinct and guard against further gun violence this summer.
“It seems like every time the sun comes out, the guns come out,” said McCall. “With billions in funding, the NYPD should prioritize communities like East New York that have long been underserved and disproportionately affected by crime and neglect.”
McCall said the community is behind the Childs family in their time of need and called upon Zanir Childs’ killer to be brought to justice immediately.
“She is not going to be alone. The community is behind her,” he added. “We want to make sure that justice prevails and hope that [the killer doesn’t] sleep until [they] turn yourself in or are caught.”
