Police cuffed a 20-year-old suspect for allegedly shooting an 18-year-old to death and injuring another man just one block from Prospect Park last year.
Authorities say the alleged gunman approached the victims on the corner of Woodruff Avenue and Ocean Avenue in Ditmas Park at around 3:30 pm on Aug. 19, 2020 and opened fire.
Responding officers arrived to the scene to find the teen, Malcolm Amede, with gunshot wounds to the chest and arms, and a 33-year-old with gunshot wounds in his abdomen.
Paramedics rushed both victims to Kings County hospital on Clarkson Avenue, where doctors pronounced Amede, a Prospect Lefferts Gardens resident, dead. The older victim remained in stable condition, and was later released from the hospital.
Almost one year later, NYPD officers found the 20-year-old suspect and charged him with murder, two counts of assault, and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to police reports.
The shooting came amid a spike in violent crime in the city compared with the preceding few years, as 2020 saw 462 murders in the Five Boroughs, compared with an average of just 362 murders between 2011 and 2020.
So far, 2021 is on pace to see more murders in New York City than 2020 — as 238 people have been murdered so far this year, compared with 235 during the same time period last year.
The pace of murders has slowed down this month, however, as just 25 people were killed between July 1 and July 25, compared with 46 murders during that time frame in 2020, marking a 45.7 percent decline.
