A $10,000 reward is being offered in connection with the shooting deaths of two next-door neighbors in the Bushwick Houses.
The neighbors were found dead days apart, but investigators believe they may have been killed on the same day, according to police.
When family members went to check on Basil Gray, 54, at about 4:40 p.m. Sunday, they found him unconscious with multiple gunshot wounds in his torso inside his fifth-floor apartment on Moore Street between Humboldt Street and Bushwick Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two days before, at about 6:45 p.m., 62-year-old Ana Delvalle was found in the apartment next door fatally shot in the head with her hands bound, police said.
While Gray was found later, there is “a strong possibility” he also died on Friday, Deputy Chief Michael Kemper said on Sunday.
“Homicide in that housing development is uncommon,” Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said Monday after an unrelated hearing at City Hall. “We’re exploring the possibilities at this time of a link.”
The same caliber shell casings were recovered from both apartments, Shea said.
“We believe the incident probably took place sometime Friday morning,” he said, adding: “The most glaring similarity is obviously the location . . . There are a lot of possibilities right now. We have a couple of very viable leads we’re following up on.”
There was no forced entry in either apartment, Kemper said. A small amount of money was missing from Delvalle’s apartment, he added.
Officers performed “door-to-door wellness checks” Sunday evening on all 113 apartments in the building, NYPD Chief of Housing James Secreto said. Officers patrolled the area Monday, and there was a 24-hour command post parked in front of the building, Secreto said. A tips van will also be circulating the area, he said.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The reward — $7,500 put up by the NYPD chief of detectives and $2,500 from Crime Stoppers — is contingent on information that leads to an arrest and conviction, according to police.
With Alison Fox and Lauren Cook
