A lavish backyard bash came to a violent end early on Monday morning when a man was fatally shot multiple times in the chest, police reported.
Law enforcement sources said the gunfire erupted at about 1:22 a.m. on Sept. 21 during a party in the rear of 738 Wortman Ave. in East New York.
Officers from the 75th Precinct, in responding to a 911 call about the shooting, spotted dozens of people running out of the yard. Several white tents enclosed the yard with rented tables and chairs and empty boxes and bottles of champagne visible from the street.
Cops found the 27-year-old man with gunshot wounds to his abdomen. Paramedics rushed him to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have withheld his identity, pending family notification.
Police have not yet established a motive for the murder. No arrests have been made at this time.
The nature of this party was still unclear, but police say pop-up parties with cash admission have been popular in some communities because many entertainment venues remain shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The only other report of a person shot across the city from overnight occurred at 11 p.m. on Sept. 20 at the corner of West 165th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
Officers from the 33rd Precinct say a 33-year-old man told them he heard shots while standing at that corner and then felt pain.
The victim was apparently hit in the calf and hip and was taken by EMS to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital where he was reported in stable condition.
There are no suspects or motive in this case, police said,
Investigators say they expect fewer shootings as more people head indoors during cooler weather.
“As it gets cooler, there are less people outside – that’s certainly an ally of ours,” said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea in a NY1 interview on Sept. 21.
Shea: Gunfire from repeat offenders
During the interview, Shea said that the NYPD has made significant progress against gun violence, having made 20 gun arrests this past week alone. But he bemoaned that some of those being arrested have been nabbed for guns in the past, but were still on the street and again using firearms.
“We are getting individuals off streets carrying guns and that is our total focus,” Shea said. “We have made a number of good arrests, but the highlight is many shouldn’t have been on the streets. When we get to a good place, gun violence with come down. We had an incident in the Bronx, cops seeing someone firing a gun, they arrested him, and we found has an open case. Some individuals don’t get it – they get out and get another gun and they are right back at it.”
Shea said the courts are beginning to catch up with cases, but a backlog remains in grand juries seeking indictments. He said many gun-toting suspects who have not been properly prosecuted are still on the streets committing other crimes.
Shea added that he would like to get more resources to “put extra cops in areas where they are most needed.” He said the court system is “waking up,” but he added, “we have a long way to go with grand juries – we had weeks where we had 70 shootings – this week we had 28.”
The commissioner also reiterated the NYPD’s ongoing efforts to rebuild trust with the community so more people cooperate with investigators after shootings. He said there have been many cases where “nobody saw what happened,” and he said that while many shootings are gang related, he said there are family members who lost a loved one who don’t cooperate either.
“Unfortunately there are gang members shooting gang members, not surprisingly not a lot of cooperation – but we have family members who also don’t want to cooperate,” Shea said. “We are continuing to work towards building trust and get people to cooperate in investigations.”
