One man is dead, four other people wounded in three shooting incidents in Brooklyn between Wednesday and Thursday morning that detectives believe might be gang-related.
The shootings came on the same day in the same community where mourners buried a reputed Blood gang member who was killed in a shoot-out on Aug. 20 in front of a McDonald’s Restaurant on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn.
Three people were shot in one incident that occurred just before 1:45 a.m. on Sept. 10 in front of 418 Blake Ave. in the Van Dyke Houses, a NYCHA development in East New York, Brooklyn. Officers from the 73rd Precinct said a 22-year-old man was left hanging onto life.
Law enforcement sources reported that two young men approached a group in front of the location in the Van Dyke Houses and began firing.
The 22-year-old was hit in the eye and into the head, while a 32-year-old man was hit in the right arm. Both were rushed by EMS to Brookdale Hospital where the younger man is now said to have succumbed to his injuries.
Later on Thursday, a 38-year-old woman showed up at the same hospital with a gunshot wound to the left leg from the same incident. She was also in stable condition.
Cops said the two attackers left in separate vehicles that fled northbound on Powell Street. Spent shells were scattered along the sidewalk and were marked for evidence early this morning. The description of the assailants is thus far sketchy.
In another case in the same precinct, at 3:45 p.m. on Sept. 9, a 31-year man was shot while walking with his pregnant girlfriend in front of 783 McDonough St. in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Police reported that several men in a dark-colored sedan drove up to the location and started firing at them. Jackson was hit in the arm, and he fled with his girlfriend to the nearby parking lot of the Saratoga Library.
Several car windows were blown out by the gunfire; one round also blasted through the window of an apartment on the first floor of that address. No other injuries were reported.
“I just don’t understand why they have to kill each other out here,” said Justin Greene of Bushwick. “This just keeps going on and a lot of people are getting hurt, and nobody seems to care.”
In a third shooting, a nurse in her 50s took a stray bullet to her shoulder in the vicinity of Bay and Clinton Streets in Red Hook at about 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 9. The victim had just completed a driving test when she was hit by a bullet fired during a dispute among several men at the corner. The victim was treated at Methodist Hospital.
Funeral for reputed gang member
Gang shootings have become more prevalent over the last few days as some gangs were burying their fellow members. There were 14 people shot just the day before.
More than 100 mourners attended a funeral for Kenneth Kendall Hamilton, also known as Dellz Balla, was shot to death on Aug. 20 in front of a McDonald’s Restaurant on Fulton Street by a rival gang member during a dispute.
No arrests have been made in this case, though some familiar with the investigation say his reputed crew with the Bloods have been waging war over the killing ever since.
More than 50 police officers were present for the funeral at the Grace Funeral Home on North Conduit Boulevard, near the Queens/Brooklyn border. His mother and father led a white horse drawn carriage out of the funeral home, many admirers wearing t-shirts with his photo surrounding them – most being restricted from coming into the home because of social distancing guidelines.
Other admirers wore red hats or carried red bandanas in their back pockets.
Family members said Hamilton was a construction worker and was a devoted family member.
“My cousin was a very, very generous person, he had heart and always wanted to make change,” said George Nichols, who went to school with Hamilton. “He was the true meaning of a lion – and lions are ferocious creatures, but they have heart. That’s one thing I can respect about my cousin and he was an idol to me.”
A long line of mourners in vehicles made their way through East New York, leg by precinct vehicles, some saying they were watching for rival gangs seeking reprisals. There have been shootings at the sites of memorials and even at funerals for reputed gang members, some ending in death.
Arrest in shooting death
Detectives arrested a 24-year-old man yesterday in connection with the Aug. 28 shooting death of a 27-year-old man in the Bronx.
Police arrested Bryan Guillermo, 24, of Billingsley Terrace, Bronx in connection with the slaying of Anthony Ortega, 27, of Wallace Avenue.
Ortega was shot at the corner of Longfellow Avenue and East 173rd Street. He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, but could not be saved.
Guillermo will be charged with murder and manslaughter in the case.
