4 shot, including 3 teenagers, outside Bronx deli: NYPD
WEST FARMS, the Bronx (PIX11) -- Four people, including three teenagers, were hospitalized after being shot in a hail of bullets in front of a local deli in the Bronx Tuesday evening. The shooting has left investigators searching for up to three suspects, and it has residents saying that shootings are happening way too frequently in the area.
The shooting happened in the West Farms section at 5:52 p.m., in front of the Bronx Deli Grocery, at 921 East 180th Street, according to police.
Xavier Princeton lives in the block and was near a window when the shots rang out.
"Loud gun sounds and people, like, shouting," he said he heard, as people in his apartment told him to get down.
He said that he then looked out from the bottom of the window. "I just see people running [and screaming], running this way and that way."
At the scene, a bullet hole in the front door of the deli provided one indication of what had happened. For hours after the shooting, NYPD investigators collected evidence, including many bullet casings, marked on the sidewalk with small, orange cones. There was easily a dozen of them.
A woman who lives in the building where the deli is located, and who declined to give her name, said that she heard the gunfire, and then saw the result, seconds later.
"I looked out my window and saw the poor man who was doubled over that was shot," she said. She was describing one of the four victims.
A 62-year-old man was among those shot. He was the person the woman had helped. He was grazed in the face, according to NYPD investigators.
They also said that a 14-year-old was shot in the legs, as was a 15-year-old. A 17-year-old was shot in the leg and buttocks, according to police.
They said that it was all the result of two or three men walking up and opening fire in front of the deli.
Neighbors' reactions to the shooting were all similar.
"I'm just fed up. That's it. I'm fed up," the woman who declined to give her name said. Like everybody else from the neighborhood who spoke with PIX11 News, she said that shootings happen too frequently there.
"I've lived here for five years," said Princeton, the other eyewitness, "and honestly, it's been like this on and off, you know?" he said. "This is the third time I've seen cones around my building."
NYPD crime statistics for the area, which is the 48th Precinct, show a more than 70% drop in shooting incidents and shooting victims in the last month, compared to the same period last year.
Tuesday's quadruple shooting, however, has changed those numbers significantly.
As for what the city should do about it, neighbors had different reactions.
Xavier Princeton said that the city should provide more opportunities for young people.
"They need a program where they can stay out of the streets," he said.
Another neighbor, who also said that she didn't feel safe to giving her name, said that a practice that has declined over the last decade, needs to increase.
"You've got to stop and frisk to see," she said, "because most likely, they have guns."