Two Shot Near School In East Williamsburg
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Two teenagers were shot and wounded in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn Tuesday afternoon, and police continued to search for a suspect hours later.
The shooting happened at around 2:45 p.m. at Grand Street near Bushwick Avenue.
The location is near the Progress High School for Professional Careers.
A male victim, 17, and a female victim, 14, were shot. Both were rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and were expected to recover.
Following the shooting, the NYPD took over an apartment building at 200 Throop Ave. in East Williamsburg, bringing in K9 units, a hostage negotiation team with heavy equipment, and a swarm of officers – even on the roof of a neighboring building.
Residents were turned away from their homes during the extensive search.
"The police said that we're not allowed upstairs," said resident Daren Campbell. "They didn't say why."
But the apartment was empty. Police as of late Tuesday night were still looking for the teenage suspect -- seen in a surveillance image hours earlier wearing a black jacket with a blue hood, and holding what appears to be a gun in his right hand.
Witnesses said he shot the boy and girl and then took off.
Both victims are students, police said, but as CBS2's Carrasco reported, it is unclear if both went to Progress High School.
"I heard pop pop. It wasn't loud gunshots, it was real low gunshots," witness Antonio Leal said, adding he saw the shooter flee the scene.
Two Shot Near School In East Williamsburg
John Perdomo also saw the aftermath of the shooting.
"I saw a little girl shot in the leg, she was real calm, she wasn't screaming or nothing. They had her leg on top of the chair, patching her up," Perdomo said.
"All of a sudden a big crowd of kids and everything, and four gunshots went off I assumed it was part of the school," one woman told reporters, including 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon and WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.
Two Shot Near School In East Williamsburg
Leal said he's used to the chaos caused by students, but nothing like this.
"They're kids. There's always fights, they always do something stupid, but I've never heard gunshots go off," he said.
One neighbor Rincon spoke with said she's had enough of the chaos and commotion caused by the students.
"These children are taught no manners; they've broken windows in the shops along the street here, most of the businesses are closed between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.," she said.
One neighbor told Silverman it feels like the neighborhood becomes lawless when school lets out.
"We are scared to walk around. When they come out of school, we cannot walk around the street, we cannot. Especially if you have a child," she said.
Surveillance video showed teens rushing into a deli to take cover as the bullets started flying. One of the suspects' bullets hit the window of a nearby supermarket.
Store owners in the neighborhood said the kids from the school are always causing problems, but they never thought it would reach the point of a shooting.
