A gunman fatally shot a 17-year-old boy in Crown Heights on Wednesday night, just hours after a different shooter wounded a man in Bushwick earlier in the day, according to police.
Officers from the 77th Precinct responded to the Crown Heights incident at around 9:23 pm on Aug. 18, where they found the teenager unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his neck near the corner of Rochester Avenue and Sterling Place.
Paramedics rushed the victim to Kings County Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. Police have withheld his identity, pending family notification.
So far, police sources did not offer many details about the shooting. It’s unclear what led up to the homicide, and no arrests have been made.
The tragic incident came on the heels of another shooting just two miles away at a Bushwick barber shop.
Police say a gunman in that case opened fire on a 33-year-old man at the hair-cutting business near Eldert Street and Wilson Avenue at around 4:55 pm — hitting the victim in the torso.
EMS workers took the bloodied victim to Brookdale University Hospital, where he’s listed in stable condition.
At this point in the ongoing investigation, police do not know what triggered the shooting. Sources familiar with the case said the victim has been uncooperative with detectives, and no arrests have been made.
The incidents come amid a bloody two-year stretch in New York City — although there are some signs that the trend is moving in the right direction.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 15, when the most recent data is available, the NYPD recorded 983 incidents of gun violence in the Five Boroughs, compared with 888 during the same timeframe last year.
Yet, the previous few months have seen a decline in gun violence. The month of July saw 158 shooting incidents this year, which marked a noticeable decline from the 243 incidents in July of 2020.
Similarly, the NYPD recorded a 19.5 percent decline in shooting incidents from June of 2021 compared to that month last year — from 205 to 165.
“This is now two months in a row, and I take a lot of positive in that,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said when announcing July’s crime statistics. “Two months in a row that we’re driving the violence down in New York City.”
Anyone with information regarding any shootings can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
