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Police Seek Gunman In Shooting That Killed Bronx Woman; Call It Mistaken Identity

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police on Thursday said a shooting that left a woman dead on a Bronx sidewalk last week was a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Dune Janelle Jacobs, 31, was shot and killed shortly before 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

She had just left her apartment on East 213th Street in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, which she shared with her mother and younger sister, to get a late-night snack at a neighborhood bodega, police said. Near Carlisle Place, a man pounced from a slow-moving car and shot her in the head, police said,

Police believe an ongoing battle between two warring street crews inadvertently led Jacobs to be targeted by the gunman, police said. One of the shots hit Jacobs' skull, and she was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center, police said.

"Everybody from all different countries are calling saying, 'How could this happen to her? She's such a nice person,'" Jacobs' niece, Jada Carter, told CBS2's Hazel Sanchez last month.

Jacobs' family said she had just received a promotion from her job as a cook at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Brooklyn and was moving out of her Bronx neighborhood because she didn't feel safe.

Police believe in the cold, dark night, the suspects – allegedly from the Young Guns crew – mistook Jacobs for a 23-year-old man who lives on Grace Avenue and whom they were allegedly planning to shoot. The allegedly intended target has a history of robbery, burglary and narcotics arrests and is a member of a Bloods gang subset called BFA, or "Brothers for Another," police said.

Nearby patrol officers heard the shots and saw a white four-door sedan speed off from the scene, police said. The officers followed the vehicle for several blocks before its driver blew through several stop signs, police said.

About two blocks from the shooting scene, someone threw a weapon from the vehicle, police said. Ballistics tests matched the 9mm Glock semiautomatic handgun to spent shell casings around Jacobs' body, police said.

47 Pct  homicide 9mm Glock 17
Police believe this 9mm Glock handgun was used in the shooting that killed Dune Janelle Jacobs, 31, in the Bronx on Tuesday, Dec. 2. (Credit: NYPD)

Police lost track of the car as its driver plowed through the neighborhood, but later found the vehicle – at 2013 Nissan Altima – abandoned with the engine running at Givan and Gunther avenues, police said. Police said the alleged gunman lived nearby.

Two men have and a third alleged accomplice has been arrested in the investigation so far, although the suspected gunman remains at large, police said.

Police identified the gunman as Brendrick "Diddy" Brown, 23, who is on federal probation in South Carolina for a 2012 grand larceny, police said. He was spotted at a relative's home in South Carolina three days after the shooting that killed Jacobs, police said.

Brendrick Brown
Police on Thursday, Dec. 11 were searching for Brendrick Brown in connection with the shooting that killed Dune Janelle Jacobs, 31, in the Bronx on Tuesday, Dec. 2. (Credit: NYPD)

The driver of the car – Devon Jenkins, 23 – and the front-seat passenger – Fabian Coke, 22 – have each been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Another man – Omar Hidalgo, 26 – was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, police said.

Investigators learned that Hidalgo rented the Nissan used as the getaway car on Sept. 23 at a Hertz car rental lot in Tampa, Florida, police alleged. Hidalgo allegedly used a fake driver's license and a fraudulent credit card with a Florida address and a false name, police said.

The car was supposed to go back to Hertz on Oct. 4, but Hidalgo allegedly loaned it out paying customers in the Edewald Houses public housing development in the Bronx, police said. People drove the car all over the city and racked up parking tickets, police said.

In the 47th Precinct where Jacobs was killed, the NYPD has seen an 18 percent increase in murder arrests and a 6 percent drop in major reported crimes, police said.

The only person who called 911 when Jacobs was shot was a man who did not know anyone had been hit by the gunfire, police said. He had just called to tell police a stray bullet had passed through the windshield of his parked car, police said.

Anyone with information about the homicide or shooting suspect Brown's whereabouts was asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, log onto the Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.

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