The scene after gunshots were used to settle an argument early Sunday morning at Moffat Street and Central Avenue. — Photo by Jonathan Mena
Two separate shootings hours apart in the Bushwick area leave at least one man dead as North Brooklyn, and the city overall, faces a rise in the murder rate.
Early Sunday morning, police responded to reports of shots fired at the Bushwick Houses public housing complex. According to an NYPD press officer, a 32-year-old black male was shot inside the complex near Varet Street off Bushwick Avenue and was pronounced dead at the scene. A witness told BushwickBK she heard the shots around 2:30am and saw a man being carried away into an ambulance. The identity of the man was not yet known and police remain on the scene canvassing the area.
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A few hours after the first shooting, an argument at a house party ended with gunshots. Around 5:30am at the corner of Moffat Street and Central Avenue, a group of five or six partygoers began to argue outside the party when a small scuffle ensued, a witness told BushwickBK. Another witness said he heard two shots. The crowd quickly left the area by foot and at least two people, including possibly the shooter, left in a car parked in front of the melee. Police at the scene said no one was hurt in the incident. A patrol car remained at the corner and detectives were seen knocking on doors and questioning residents.
NYPD statistics show 2010 has been one of the bloodiest recent years with a 13% rise in the murder rate throughout the five boroughs, the Post reported. Brooklyn has seen a 7% rise in the murder rate and a 5% rise in the shooting victim rate. It took only nine months for Brooklyn to surpass the amount of murders seen in 2009 and lead the other five boroughs with 159 murders as of September.
East New York leads in homicides with 23 investigations — the most in the city. Bushwick has seen 10 murders so far this year, an increase of two over 2009′s total, Bedford-Stuyvesant has seen 11, up from nine, while Ridgewood’s 104th Precinct reports two murders, up from one. Six of the dead in Bushwick were killed by July; it’s thought summer temperatures make criminals quicker on their triggers.
The 90th Precinct covering Williamsburg — and the Bushwick Houses — reports only one killing this year, though there have been several shootings at the cluster of housing projects near Flushing and Bushwick Avenue, the most recent during the Democratic primary.
