Murder investigations are underway in two separate shootings in Brooklyn and Queens that claimed lives between Saturday and Sunday.
The most recent homicide occurred in Queens at about 1:47 a.m. on Sept. 13, when a man was fatally shot in the back in front of a home on 107th Avenue near 164th Place in Jamaica.
Officers from the 103rd Precinct responded to a 911 call about a shooting at the location and found the wounded 35-year-old man, along with a 27-year-old man who took a bullet to the leg, and also had a graze wound to his head.
Police sources said the two victims in this incident were part of a group hanging outside the location when someone pulled out a weapon and began firing. It is unclear, at this point, if the victims were deliberately targeted by the unidentified shooter.
Paramedics rushed the 35-year-old man to NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, where he was later pronounced dead. Police have withheld his identity, pending family notification.
The 27-year-old man is listed in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital, police reported.
No arrests have been made in the ongoing investigation.
Earlier, on Saturday afternoon, a 33-year-old man was shot dead in front of a home in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, authorities reported.
Law enforcement sources said the shooting happened at 5:22 p.m. on Sept. 12 along 78th Street near 12th Avenue.
Officers from the 68th Precinct found Arfan Butt, 33, of 73rd Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, sitting inside a vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, Butt had been inside the vehicle with two suspects who then got out of the car and began firing at Butt. Following the gunfire, sources said, a Mercedes-Benz pulled up to the location; the perpetrators hopped into that vehicle and fled the scene.
EMS rushed Butt to Maimonides Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
Butt’s broad daylight killing comes just one week after 31-year-old Zaid Zindani was fatally shot in an almost identical manner. According to authorities, on Sept. 5, Zindani was shot in the face and neck as he sat behind the wheel of a Masarati on 63rd Street near 17th Avenue in Bensonhurst, within the confines of the 62nd Precinct.
The Dyker Heights shooting is also the second to occur in the 68th Precinct in one week. On Sunday, Sept. 7, 62-year-old Bay Ridge resident Michael Scully was gunned down while walking his dog by alleged shooter George Vayos after what law enforcement sources described as a long-standing rivalry.
Bronx shooting suspects sought
The NYPD, meanwhile, released disturbing video Saturday night of the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old man on a Bronx street last week.
The homicide happened at 4:42 p.m. on Sept. 10 along Hoe Avenue in Crotona, where two suspects spotted the victim and began opening fire.
The video footage shows one of the perpetrators walking up to the victim, Kether Werts, as he’s lying wounded, face first, on the ground and shooting him.
Officers from the 40th Precinct responded to the incident. Werts was later pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting or the suspects’ whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
With reporting by Meaghan McGoldrick.
