One person is dead, another wounded in two separate Brooklyn shootings yesterday evening, police officials said.
The first shooting occurred at about 5:30 p.m. in the Sheepshead Nostrand NYCHA houses at 3573 Nostrand Avenue. Police from the 61st Precinct rushed to the scene where they found a 25-year-old man shot to the right armpit. The victim, not identified, was rushed to Kings County Hospital where he was in stable condition.
Police at one point rushed into the building where the suspect is still suspecting of holding up in an unknown apartment. No arrests have been made this case and police say witnesses have thus far been uncooperative.
Police found numerous spent shells and were combing video for clues on this case.
The second shooting occurred at 10:31 p.m. in front of 1144 Bergen Street in Crown Heights. Police from the 77th Precinct found the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was rushed to Kings County Hospital where he died of his wounds.
Police have identified the victim as 25-year-old Oshea Barnes of New York Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. There was no word on a motive in this shooting.
Detectives found a loaded handgun in a trash container the next day, but could not confirm that this was the weapon used in the shooting.
Residents of Bergen Street were not shocked by the violence as there has been an uptick in homicides for April and since January 1, despite the coronavirus causing most people to shelter in place. Police officials have said gang violence has shot up as gang leaders have been arrested in various drug and gun operations, leading to power vacuums in these street gangs.
Crown Heights resident Douglass Smith mourned the continued violence on the streets and worried that the city would plummet to the old days of rampant crime.
“I give Giuliani credit for one thing. He cleaned this area up in the ’90s. I guess we are going back to the old days around here,” Smith said.
Anyone with information in regards to either shooting 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 Crime Stoppers website at on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
