NYPD: Gun Violence Continues As 21-Year-Old Man Shot And Killed In Crown Heights
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man is dead after a shooting in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on Monday night.
He's the latest victim in what has been a violent month in New York City, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported from the 77th Precinct.
NYPD Gang Squad investigators surround a bullet-riddled car at Schenectady Avenue and Dean Street, where police say a 21-year-old man was shot multiple times in the torso, the city's latest victim to gun violence.
MORE: NYPD Reports Big Spike In Shootings, Including 17 On Saturday Alone
Over the weekend, the Bronx lost 17-year-old Brandon Hendricks, a standout point guard at Monroe High School, who graduated Friday and was excited to start college.
"I think we spoke as late as 9:30 last night, and then two hours later, he was gone. We were talking about the things he needed to do in preparation to go to college," said Noel Ellison, Hendricks' uncle.
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Police said Hendricks was shot in the neck just before midnight Sunday following some sort of argument on Davidson Avenue near 176th Street. He later died at a hospital.
"We have to figure out what's going on with these young people that gives them such a sense of hopelessness, that they would just throw out their life and somebody else's life away just like that," said Nigel Thompson, who coached Hendricks for several years.
Shootings are up 129% this month compared to the same time last year. There were 63 shooting incidents citywide last week, compared to 26 that week the year before.
NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan blames the rise in crime on a mix of bail reform, the courts not fully operating during the shutdown, and animosity against police.
The City Council and protesters want to shift how the city fights crime by focusing on prevention over punishment. They're looking to cut $1 billion from the NYPD's $6 billion budget and reinvest that money in community services.
"We look in our community and we're a little disheartened when we see that we're taking each other's lives," God Squad member Pastor Louis Straker said.
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Mayor Bill de Blasio has praised anti-violence groups for helping to combat crime, like the God Squad in East Flatbush, which responds to shootings and does outreach with gang members and the formerly incarcerated.
"We have so much work to do as a community. We have so much work to do as families, as mothers, as parents, as fathers," said Pastor Gil Monrose, God Squad president.
The motive in the Crown Heights shooting is still under investigation, and the victim's name was not immediately released. Police have not made any arrests in this shooting nor in the Bronx shooting over the weekend.
