A shooting at a Bronx house party left one teen dead and two others injured early Sunday morning, police said.
More than 200 people packed the backyard of a small home in the Wakefield section before the fun turned deadly. Keshon Porterfield, 17, was shot in the torso just after 1 a.m. while standing outside of the East 232 Street house, police said. He was just a few blocks from his own home when he was killed.
A 17-year-old girl was shot in the left foot and taken to Montefiore Medical Center in stable condition, police said. A second 17-year-old boy was shot in the right leg.
Both boys were taken to Jacobi Hospital where the second boy is in stable condition.
A person of interest was taken into custody at the house, police said. A gun was recovered from the home as well.
Porterfield’s family gathered at the hospital to mourn the young boy’s death.
“It’s a lot,” said his grandmother, Alberta Portefield, 67, in a phone interview. “He’s lovable, always talking to me about whatever. This is breaking my heart. I’ll very much miss him.”
The family has seen tragedy before: Porterfield’s father died a couple years ago, she said. She said will remember her grandson as “very kind and sensitive.”
Jacqueline Sanders, 48, was sitting in her house when she heard the gunshots from the backyard. Earlier that evening, several kids had told her that they knew the landlord of the private home and they were holding a party in the backyard. Sanders said she did know the people who threw the party.
They had been dancing there just before the shots rang out, she said.
“I thought there were firecrackers,” she said. “I look through my window and I see everybody running. I’m watching them trying to get over the fence.”
Sanders said her boyfriend started telling her to get down on the ground. Shortly after, she said, she saw Porterfield laying on the ground. “I was like oh my God,” she said. “I started tearing up, I started crying. These are people’s kids. These are somebody’s children.”
Police said no one has yet been charged in the shooting, which is thought to be gang-related.
