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1-Year-Old Is Shot and Killed at Brooklyn Cookout 1-Year-Old Is Shot and Killed at Brooklyn Cookout
(about 3 hours later)
A 1-year-old baby boy was killed and three men were wounded on Sunday night when two gunmen opened fire on people at a cookout in a Brooklyn park, one of the latest casualties in a summer of rising gun violence in New York, the police said. The cookout in Brooklyn on Sunday night was like many other outdoor parties in New York City during the pandemic. People gathered around a smoldering grill near a park late on a warm summer evening. The group included a 1-year-old boy in a stroller.
“This is so painful,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday at a news briefing. “It’s not something we can ever look away from.” Then, at around 11:30 p.m., two gunmen dressed in black approached, fired a number of shots at the group and fled, the police said.
The baby, Davell Gardner Jr., was in his stroller when the shooting broke out at about 11:30 p.m. near the Raymond Bush Playground in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, the police said. The 1-year-old, Davell Gardner Jr., was hit in the stomach, officials said. He died a short time later at a nearby hospital, becoming one of the latest casualties in a summer of rising gun violence.
Two gunmen, dressed all in black, approached the group, fired and fled, the police said. Davell was hit in the abdomen and later died at a local hospital, the police said. The death rattled a city that was already on edge because of a relentless surge in shootings, the pandemic and weeks of protests against police brutality.
Bullets also struck a 25-year-old man in the ankle, a 36-year-old man in the leg and a 27-year-old man in the groin. The three men, who have not been identified, were taken to hospitals and were expected to survive, the police said. “This is so painful,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news briefing on Monday, before calling for a minute of silence. “It’s not something we can ever look away from.”
Three men were also wounded in the shooting, which happened near the Raymond Bush Playground in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section, the police said. The men — a 27-year-old who was hit in the ankle, a 36-year-old struck in the leg and a 35-year-old shot in the groin — were expected to survive.
“These are the very real people affected by senseless gun violence,” Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said on Twitter on Monday.“These are the very real people affected by senseless gun violence,” Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said on Twitter on Monday.
Davell’s death capped another weekend of gun violence in New York City, where shootings in June and July have risen sharply compared to the same period last year. Two boys, 12 and 15, were among the city’s other victims of gun violence on Sunday night. The 15-year-old was hit in the wrist on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard near 143rd Street in Harlem, the police said. The 12-year-old was shot in the leg on Prospect Place near Ralph Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn.
As of July 12, there had been 634 shootings, compared to 394 the year before. If current trends hold, the city is on pace to cross 800 shootings for the year. It would be the first time in three years that the city had reached that number. On Monday afternoon, officers pored over the spot where Davell was hit. More than a dozen numbered orange evidence markers indicating where shell casings had been found dotted the roadway; several more traced a ragged path from the curb into, and through, the playground.
In June, 28 people died from gunshot wounds, the police said. The trend continued in early July, with 19 more people fatally shot through July 12. Davell’s death came during another grim weekend of gun violence in the city, where shootings in June and July are up sharply compared with the same period last year, a spike that has helped push the overall number for the year higher.
The spike in shootings has come as city residents and officials engage in a fierce debate over the future of policing, a discussion prompted by large-scale demonstrations over police brutality and systemic racism in the criminal justice system. As of July 12, there had been 634 shootings in 2020, compared with 394 in 2019. At that pace, the city would top 800 shootings for the year. It would be the first time in three years that the city had reached that number.
For weeks, protesters angered by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other officer-involved shootings have taken to city streets, calling for sweeping reforms to policing. Twenty-eight people died of gunshot wounds in June, the police said. The trend continued into this month, with 20 more people fatally shot through July 12.
The spike in shootings has come as city residents and officials engage in a fierce debate over the future of policing, a discussion prompted by large-scale demonstrations over police brutality and institutional racism, including in the criminal justice system.
Since late May, protesters angered by the killing in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis and officer-involved shootings elsewhere have taken to city streets, calling for sweeping police reforms.
Last month, New York State banned chokeholds and repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records secret. City officials, responding to calls to defund the police, agreed in principle to shift roughly $1 billion from the Police Department to other agencies.Last month, New York State banned chokeholds and repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records secret. City officials, responding to calls to defund the police, agreed in principle to shift roughly $1 billion from the Police Department to other agencies.
Senior police officials and leaders of the city’s police unions argued against such moves, saying that they would hobble the department’s ability to deter violent crimes, especially in the middle of a rise in shootings. Senior police officials and leaders of the city’s police unions argued against the moves, saying that they would hobble the department’s ability to deter violent crime, especially with shootings on the rise.
Experts on crime say the spike in shootings, which has affected several American cities, is an annual summer occurrence that has been made more acute this year by the strain of the pandemic on the economy and on living conditions. Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, who oversaw the Brooklyn North patrol borough before a recent promotion put him in charge of the Police Department’s Community Affairs bureau, appealed for an end to the violence in a Twitter message early Monday, saying, “This. Must. STOP!”
But senior police officials, including the police commissioner, have tried to draw a connection between the shootings and a range of changes in the criminal justice system — from delays in the court system caused by the virus, to recent measures intended to reduce the jail population. Experts on crime say that an increase in shootings, which other U.S. cities have experienced, is an annual summer occurrence that is more acute this year because of the strain the pandemic has put on the economy and on people’s living conditions.
Crime data provided by the police, however, has not shown a strong connection between the violence and these factors. Chief Michael LiPetri, the police chief in charge of crime statistics, for instance, said in an interview with the New York Daily News that just seven out of 2,100 people released from jail with pending gun charges have been linked to shootings. But senior police officials, including Commissioner Shea, have sought to link the uptick in shootings to recent changes in the criminal justice system, including court delays caused by the virus, a new bail law and other measures meant to reduce the jail population.
Elected officials and advocates for changing the role of the police have also repeatedly pushed back against the police’s arguments, noting that one factor in the rise in violence may be that the majority of shootings go unsolved. Crime data provided by the police, however, has not shown a strong connection between the violence and those factors. Chief Michael LiPetri, the police chief in charge of crime statistics, said in an interview with The New York Daily News that just seven out of 2,100 people released from jail with pending gun charges had been linked to shootings since their release.
On Monday, Mayor de Blasio again said that he believed the rise in shootings was fueled by the “horrible dislocation” caused by the pandemic, which ravaged the city’s economy and upended its courts and jails. Although murders and shootings have risen, reports of other four other major crimes — rape, robbery, felony assault and grand larceny — are either flat or down sharply so far this year. Burglaries and car thefts have surged during the pandemic, with thieves targeting empty restaurants and unattended vehicles.
“The N.Y.P.D. has been overloaded in so many ways and it just keeps adding up,” Mr. de Blasio said. “And most importantly, the criminal justice system is not functioning yet.” Some elected officials and activists who support shrinking the Police Department and fundamentally changing its practices have repeatedly sought to counter the argument that efforts to reduce the jail population is behind the increase in shootings. They point to another possible factor: that most shootings still go unsolved by the police.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from the Bronx, where shootings have risen this year, has also linked the increased violence to the collapse of the local economy and high unemployment. On Monday, Mr. de Blasio again said he believed that the rise in shootings was being fueled by the “horrible dislocation” caused by the pandemic, which ravaged the city’s economy and upended its courts and jails.
“Poverty and crime are highly linked, both violent & nonviolent alike,” she said on Twitter on Monday. “The N.Y.P.D. has been overloaded in so many ways and it just keeps adding up,” the mayor said. “And most importantly, the criminal justice system is not functioning yet.”
Though murders and shootings have risen, reports of other four other crimes — rape, robbery, felony assault and grand larceny — are either flat or sharply down so far this year. Burglaries and car thefts, meanwhile, have surged during the pandemic, as thieves have targeted empty restaurants and unattended vehicles. On Monday, at a news conference near where Davell was fatally shot, Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, said that officials should have been better prepared for the wave of gun violence.
It is the wave of shootings, however, that has generated angst and debate among elected officials and police leaders. “Everything in these communities has been made worse by the pandemic,” Mr. Williams said. “Everything. Why did you think gun violence would be different?”
Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, who oversaw the Brooklyn North patrol borough before being promoted to lead the New York Police Department’s Community Affairs bureau, appealed for an end to the violence on Monday morning, in a Twitter message, saying, “This. Must. STOP!” The Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, a former police captain, urged the police to step up their investigations of recent shootings and to collaborate with neighborhood organizations to stem the violence.
As of Monday morning, the police had not yet made any arrests in Sunday night’s shooting. Mr. Adams said he did not believe that the police had eased up on enforcement in response to weeks of criticism and protests, as some community leaders have said.
In separate shootings on Sunday night, two boys, aged 12 and 15, were among others wounded in the city over the weekend. “I don’t want to hear a conversation about a slowdown in policing,” Mr. Adams said.
The 15-year-old was hit in the wrist at 9:10 p.m. on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard near 143rd Street in Manhattan, the police said, confirming a report from the New York Post. As he spoke, Davell’s family gathered in front of an apartment building that faces the park. Several officers stood watch, while people spoke quietly and exchanged hugs. One young mother handed a candle and two balloons to an officer.
The 12-year-old was shot in the leg at about 9:10 p.m. on Prospect Place near Ralph Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, the police said. “Could you give this to the family?” she said.
Ali Watkins contributed reporting. Mr. de Blasio and Robert E. Cornegy Jr., the City Council member who represents the area, arrived later and spoke with Davell’s mother. Mr. Cornegy said the woman was still wearing the bloody clothes she had on as she carried her wounded son.
“There were just tears streaming down her face,” Mr. de Blasio said afterward. “I just told her that we’re here for her, and none of us can imagine what she’s going through.”
Sean Piccoli and Ali Watkins contributed reporting.