A 24-year-old Bronx man lost his life Tuesday night when he and another individual were shot in an apparently gang-related dispute, police reported.
Charles Wilkins, 24, of East 137th Street took a fatal bullet during the dispute involving the second victim and the shooter at the corner of Willis Avenue and East 137th Street in the South Bronx at about 11:27 p.m. on May 18.
Officers from the 40th Precinct found the two victims while responding to a 911 call about the shooting.
EMS rushed Wilkins to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The second victim, a 20-year-old man who was shot in the leg, remains at Lincoln Hospital in stable condition.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police believe that Wilkins and the second victim had become engaged in a dispute with the shooter, who subsequently pulled the trigger on them. It’s believed that the argument was related to gang activity.
Police gleaned few details about the shooter’s identity, describing him only as a Black man standing about 6 feet tall. No arrests have been made in the ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, cops in Brooklyn cuffed three men connected to the shooting of a 69-year-old man at a playground on Tuesday night.
Law enforcement sources said the victim took a bullet to his thigh in the playground of the Seth Low Houses, a public housing complex at 180 Powell St. in Brownsville, at about 8:31 p.m. on May 18.
According to police, the victim was standing in the playground when the three suspects pulled up to a nearby parking lot inside a black Nissan sedan.
One of the perpetrators, authorities said, got out of the sedan and began firing multiple gun shots at the playground, striking the victim in the thigh. No other injuries were reported.
After the shooting, the gunman got back inside the Nissan sedan and the occupants attempted to drive away. They were stopped, however, by responding NYPD officers from PSA 2 and the 73rd Precinct.
The three occupants inside the sedan were taken into custody. Police have withheld their identities at this time, pending the ongoing investigation and subsequent charges.
The victim, meanwhile, is being treated at Kings County Hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening, police sources said.
