Three people are dead, eight others wounded overnight in what police believe is a surge in gang warfare in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, police officials said.
Six of those were shot in one Brooklyn location in a possible drive-by shooting, a preferred mode of attack in many of the gang attacks. One person was killed in that gunfire.
The night before, there were eight people shot, though none of those was fatal. Police say most of those shootings were gang-related.
In the first fatal shooting at 9:36 p.m., a 28-year-old man was shot multiple times in front of 761 Herkimer Street in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Police from the 81st Precinct said they found the victim unconscious and he was then rushed by EMS to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The victim has not yet been identified and there was no information or description of the assailant. However, NYPD gang units were on scene as part of the investigation. Also, extra police were brought in because of what was termed “a hostile crowd.”
“We just laid two people to rest over here from gun violence now this. These young boys need to stop the street life,” said Mable King, a resident of the block.
Only an hour later, six people were sprayed with gunfire from a white BMW series 5 in front of 271 Hawthorne Street just off Nostrand Avenue, in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. Police from the 71st Precinct say the victims were standing together when they were hit by gunfire. Among those shot were a 23-year-old male hit in the chest who was rushed to Kings County Hospital, but he could not be saved.
Also shot was a 26-year-old man shot in the right leg, a 29-year-old man shot in the left leg, a 29-year-old woman hit in the right leg, a 27-year-old man hit in the groin and a male 28, grazed in the back. All but the 28-year-old were in stable condition at Kings County, while the other man was taken to Brookdale for his wound.
Detectives closed a wide swath of the street collecting numerous spent shells from the pavement. Gang units were on scene investigating this latest mass shooting, leaving residents in shock over the brazen nature of the attack.
“I heard a rapid succession of shots and people screaming,” said Greg Mahoney, a resident of Hawthorne Street.
In the Bronx at 11:40 p.m., a 23-year-old male was shot in a drive-by shooting in front of 1130 Anderson Avenue in Highbridge, the Bronx. Police from the 44th Precinct found the victim shot in the head and he was rushed to Lincoln Hospital where he was dead on arrival.
He has been identified by police as Aaron Santiago, 23, of Woodycrest Avenue in the Bronx.
Detectives were seeking a black BMWx5, a white Chrysler with a Florida plate with windows blown out and a dark green Cherokee Jeep. The victim in this case may have been an innocent bystander.
Police later found the black BMW abandoned not far from the shooting.
Other shootings overnight
Oct. 21, 9:25 p.m. – A 48-year-old man was shot in the left leg and left hands at the corner of West 212th Street and Broadway. Police from the 34th Precinct said the victim was shot by an unknown individual after a brief dispute.
The victim was taken by EMS to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition.
Oct. 22, 1 a.m. – A 23-year-old man was shot in front of 888 Main Street in Astoria, Queens by assailants in a white sedan. The victim was hit in the arm according to investigators from the 114th Precinct and he was taken to Cornell Hospital for treatment.
It was unclear whether this victim was the intended target or an innocent bystander.
Oct. 22, 3:46 a.m. – Two people were shot at the corner of East 181st Street and Valentine Avenue in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx. Police from the 46th Precinct say they found a 32-year-old man shot in the torso at the scene. He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital in serious, but stable condition.
A second 31-year-old man walked into St. Barnabas Hospital shortly afterwards with a bullet wound to the left leg.
Detectives say the victims told them they heard shots and felt pain. It is believed that someone in a passing vehicle fired shots at them.
There were numerous other shootings yesterday afternoon and throughout the night, including one shooting at an audio installation shop in which attackers in a white Infiniti fired five shots at the garage, hitting a green Impala, but missing the owner of the vehicle. It was unclear who was the target in this shooting. There was also a shooting on East 40th Street and Avenue D, near where another man was shot the night before. Spent shells were found there too.
Police seek information
Police are seeking two men wanted in connection to a shooting in Highbridge the Bronx on October 18.
Detectives from the 44th Precinct say that at 4:51 p.m., a 26-year-old man was embroiled in a verbal dispute with two people, a male and female inside a bodega at 1328 Jerome Avenue. The dispute escalated to a physical confrontation at which point the man pulled a firearm and chased the victim to the rear of the store and shot the victim in the chest.
The two attackers then fled the bodega on foot. EMS rushed the victim to Saint Barnabas hospital in serious but stable condition.
The assailants being sought were described as a male, approximately 30-40 years in age and a female, approximately 20-30 years in age.
Photos from video surveillance were provided.
Anyone with information in regard to any of these shootings is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
