Nine more people were shot overnight in continuing gun violence in three boroughs as the mayor seeks local involvement of outreach, peace marches, and manning ‘hot spots’ where violence recurs.
None of the shooting victims has life-threatening injuries thus far, as more than 100 victims have been logged since last week, including the shooting death of a 1-year-old baby on Sunday night.
With a focus on Brooklyn where much of the violence has occurred, the city will launch the “Central Brooklyn Violence Prevention Plan” to combat the wave of shootings, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at a press briefing on Wednesday.
“This is the way forward – working with communities, by recognizing the leadership of community leaders, organizations, clergy, elected officials,” de Blasio said yesterday.
The recent gun violence spree apparently is linked to a city-wide gang war between the Bloods and the Crips, much of it sparked by the arrest of five gang members in California who are accused of killing rapper Pop Smoke, who grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn and was a known member of the Crips.
Others blame the disbanding of the NYPD anti-crime unit whose main job was to take guns off the street and to make those carrying guns wary of having them in the first place. Much of the investigations of these violent street gangs were put-off during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in which nearly 20 percent of the department was infected or became sick with the virus.
Forty-five members of the department died from complications of the coronavirus, police officials said.
Of the nine shootings from last night, three of those were hit in Brooklyn, four in the Bronx and two in Manhattan.
Here’s a run-down of the shootings from overnight:
July 15, 6 p.m. – a 17-year-old male was shot in the thigh as he walked in front of 16 Legion Street in Brownsville. Police from the 73rd Precinct found the victim on the ground and EMS took him to Brookdale in stable condition.
The victim said he heard shots and then felt pain. No description of the suspects.
July 15, 8:39 p.m. –A 29-year-old man was shot in the buttocks while walking at the corner of Belmont and Miller Avenues in East New York. The victim told police from the 75th Precinct that he heard shots from an unknown location and was hit. He was taken to Brookdale in stable condition.
July 15, 9:45 p.m. – A 24-year-od man was shot in the back in front of 151 Elton Street in East New York. The victim could not tell police from the 75th Precinct who might’ve shot him. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition.
July 15, 11:10 p.m. – Two men, ages 23 and 41, were shot in front of 1800 Cedar Street in the Bronx. The 23-year-old was hit in the groin and the 41-year-old was hit in the leg. Neither would provide information on who shot them. Both were treated at Lincoln Hospital.
July 16, 12:30 a.m. – Police from the 46th Precinct in the Bronx said a 40-year-old man was shot in the right thigh at the corner of East Fordham Road and Valentine Avenue. Police say the victim was riding a bicycle when he heard shots and realized he had been hit.
He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition and there are no arrests.
July 16, 1 a.m. – A 21-year-old man was shot in the leg in front of 65 Jefferson Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the LaGuardia Houses, a NYCHA development. The victim told police he heard shots and then felt the pain in his leg. No description was given of who fired the shots.
July 16, 3 a.m. – A 16-year-old male walked into Kings County Hospital after having been shot in the buttocks in front of 1250 Avenue K in Flatlands. He also told police from the 63rd Precinct that he heard the shots and then realized he was shot.
There were also reported shots fired in Crown Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant and Brownsville, where numerous vehicles suffered bullets to the windshields, but no reported injuries. There were also two people slashed in a dispute in East New York, though neither was considered to have life-threatening injuries.
Late-breaking news: Police say a man who was shot while driving his car in Sheepshead Bay early Sunday morning, has died of his injuries. He was identified as Malik Williams, 21, of Seaview Avenue in Starrett City in East New York, Brooklyn.
Police found Williams shot in the face in his car on Shore Parkway near Haring Street at about 12:40 a.m. Sunday, July 12. He was rushed to Coney Island Hospital, with very critical injuries and has died of his injuries this morning July 16.
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 or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
