One man was killed and five others were injured in a series of shootings across New York City on Monday night, police reported.
The incidents happened just hours after NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced the disbanding of the controversial, plain-clothed Anti-Crime Units that compromise 600 officers in the city’s 77 precincts. The teams – which specialize in seeking out armed criminals — were disbanded in an effort to rebuild public confidence in the NYPD.
The first shooting incident occurred at 6:20 p.m. on June 15 in front of 225 Bainbridge St. in Brooklyn. Officers from the 81st Precinct responded to 911 calls of shots fired, and received notifications through the NYPD Shotspotter program, an electronic network that detects possible gunfire citywide.
Arriving officers found a 30-year-old man who apparently suffered a stab wound to the chest, and a 36-year-old man who had been shot in the lower back. Both were rushed to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
Officers on patrol in the are quickly nabbed a suspect who was spotted running with a gun in hand near the crime scene. He’s currently being held for questioning, with charges pending.
Eight spent shells were found scattered on Bainbridge Street near Patchen Avenue. The motive for the shooting is still unclear.
“This is the seventh or eighth shooting I’ve seen on this block. They need to stop, we have young kids growing up on this block.” said Willy Graham, 20, a resident of Bainbridge Street.
One resident feared the incident was a harbinger of things to come.
“Anti-Crime being disbanded will make Bedford Stuyvesant a repeat of the 90’s and early 2000’s for me,” observed resident Harriett Smith, a 22-year resident of Bainbridge Street. “A mix of shootings, fires, robberies and chaos. We’ve come too far to let that happen.”
The second shooting occurred at about 7 p.m. on June 15 in front of 31-62 51st St. in Woodside, Queens, where two people were shot.
Officers from the 114th Precinct found a 31-year-old man shot in the back, and a 44-year-old woman with a graze wound to the back. Both were taken to Elmhurst Hospital and were reported in stable condition.
Police could not provide a description or motive for the shooting. So far, no arrests have been made.
The third incident — which occurred at 10:11 p.m. Monday night at 1164 Franklin Ave. in the South Bronx — turned out to be deadly.
Cops from the 42nd Precinct, after receiving a 911 call about the shooting, found a 34-year-old man who was shot in the back and hip and lost consciousness. He later died of his injuries.
A second individual, also a 34-year-old man, took multiple bullets to his chest. He’s now in critical condition at Lincoln Hospital, police said.
Spent shells were said to be spread out throughout the street. Police have withheld the victims’ identities, pending the ongoing investigation.
In announcing the dissolution of Anti-Crime Units on Monday, Shea expressed concern over the recent uptick in shootings and homicides citywide, both of which are up about 20% year-to-date. He said he was depending on community cooperation to tamp down the violence.
Also complicating efforts to control shootings, police sources said, has been the uptick in fireworks being set off in the boroughs, making Shotspotter notifications more difficult to distinguish.
Anyone with information on any of these shootings is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit tips online at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
