A pistol-packing fiend gunned down a 32-year-old man in East New York Tuesday morning, striking a school and a city bus in the process.
The gunman fired off several rounds on Pennsylvania Avenue near Duman Avenue at 8:45 am, hitting the victim in the stomach and chest, before fleeing as the man bled out on the streets, according to police.
Paramedics rushed the victim to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Several gunshots struck the door of a short school bus idling in front of a nearby day care center, as well as a B20 bus traveling northbound along Pennsylvania Avenue. Law enforcement sources said a 4-year-old child was on board the school bus at the time, but that all passengers aboard both buses escaped unharmed.
Police shut down Pennsylvania Avenue for two blocks as crime scene investigators combed the area for clues, and the suspect remains on the lam, according to police.
Nearby residents were shocked by the brazen daylight shooting near the Thomas Jefferson High School campus, where police and school safety officers are typically stationed during school hours.
“This never happens around here — not on this block,” said Richard Ball, a 20-year Pennsylvania Avenue resident. “There are a lot of police over here. Sometimes they get into hand fights, but never like this.”
James Paul, a resident of Dumont Avenue, said he wasn’t surprised by the violence, but that he didn’t expect it to occur in broad daylight.
“Kids are going to school over here and they are shooting,” Paul said. “It happens every week, but always at night. People going to school, people on the buses, it could’ve been a lot worse. What I want to know is where is the 75th and 73rd Precincts … where were they?”
A relative who identified himself as the victim’s uncle said the victim “was a good kid, and he was not involved anything — he just started a job.”
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
