Cops on Thursday cuffed two men the day after one of them allegedly shot and killed a guy inside an Albee Square West store in the fourth Downtown shooting in five months.
Police apprehended a 44-year-old Brownsville resident, whom they suspect fired the bullet into 25-year-old Carlton Spencer’s chest at 11:15 pm at the foot of an escalator leading to Target inside the City Point shopping center between Willoughby Street and DeKalb Avenue, along with a 26-year-old Crown Heights man.
Authorities charged the 44-year-old with possession of a loaded gun and marijuana, reckless endangerment, and menacing, and the 26-year-old with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, assault, and menacing, officials said.
But police are still looking for a motive and investigating whether the deadly incident was gang-related, according to a Police Department spokeswoman, who said Spencer was a member of a gang.
Last month, Borough President Adams blamed the three prior Downtown shootings in July, August, and October, none of which were fatal, on bad actors headed to and from the area’s many courtrooms, claiming individuals from across Kings County committed the crimes with weapons they hid at construction sites.
Cops arrested Spencer no less than three times before the suspect fatally shot him, for crimes that included possessing counterfeit cash and weapons, officers said. His most recent arrest occurred on Oct. 5, and he was due to appear in court next on Jan. 14, city records show.
Paramedics rushed Spencer, who lived in Flatbush, to Brooklyn Hospital following the shooting, but doctors could not save him, according to authorities.
The site of the deadly incident is also home to a Trader Joe’s, an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and the DeKalb Market Hall grub hub, and is steps from the luxury Brooklyn Point tower rising in the neighborhood.
Target staff closed the store following the incident, and it remained off-limits on Thursday afternoon when this reporter stopped by and found police blocking off part of Albee Square West — which was still splattered with blood — from Fulton Mall to the entrance of City Point, where cops placed nine yellow markers identifying evidence, including a lighter and chocolate bar left at the scene.
