One person is dead, and five others were arrested after a van crashed into a house on Staten Island on Tuesday, NYPD and FDNY officials said.
Police and first responders descended on the chaotic scene in St. George just before noon, after purported members of two rival gangs got into a fight at the Richmond County Supreme Court building on Central Avenue, according to a law enforcement source.
Court officers were alerted to a fight involving a knife outside the courthouse around 11:45 a.m., police said. Five of the individuals involved fled in a stolen dark-colored Dodge Caravan down Fort Place.
Another man involved, Robert Craigwell, 26, was on foot and was firing a gun at the stolen van, police said. The driver of the van, Prince Edmonds, 19, then crashed into Craigwell, pinning him against a multistory home on Fort Place, near Montgomery Avenue, according to police and fire officials.
Craigwell was pronounced dead at the scene, an FDNY spokeswoman said. A gun was also recovered at the scene, according to police.
Edmonds was later charged with manslaughter, grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, police said. The four other men in the van — Isaiaha Black, 20; Illya Baker, 22; Tyreek Gomez, 16; and Hassan Ray, 24, — were charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle, police said.
Separately, police said a woman was shot on Jersey Avenue, near Hendricks Avenue, shortly after the crash was reported. She was listed in critical condition at a Staten Island hospital, according to a source.
With Anthony DeStefano
