Police responded to the two quadruple shootings in less than three hours in a single afternoon
Another New York man died on Sunday, two days after a flurry of bullets struck him and three other men outside a Popeyes restaurant on a corner in the Bronx, authorities said.
Police announced the death of Devren Smith, 37, after he was struck Friday afternoon and rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. A second victim, 24-year-old Jeremiah Smith, died the same day of the shooting after he was hit in the chest.
Shots rang out around 2:30 p.m. Friday, the first in a particularly bloody 15-hour stretch for New York City, injuring four men near Tremont Avenue and Hughes Avenue. Two other men injured were expected to recover.
Jose Parilla, 30, was taken into custody on Saturday for the deadly incident, a day after police nabbed 51-year-old Salvatore Rivera. Both men face charges of murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon, according to authorities.
A witness to the shooting, an employee at a Popeyes near the scene, said he heard an argument unfold moments before the sound of gunfire. Security camera footage shows a man stand at the corner of a building and fire a handgun.
An employee working at the time described the moments one of the shooting victims ran inside.
“Another one came to the store and said I’m shot, and police came and took him down to the hospital I guess,” the worker said.
Less than three hours later, another group of four men was targeted — this time in a Brooklyn drive-by shooting. Officers responded to Coney Island, near Mermaid Avenue and 33rd Street, around 5 p.m. for reports of shots fired.
Three men were shot in the leg, while a 17-year-old was shot in the chest. All were expected to survive, police said. A maroon Dodge Caravan minivan pulled up and fired shots at the group, according to police.
Rashawn Thompson said his younger brother is in the hospital after taking one of the bullets in front of the mini-mart off Mermaid Avenue.
“He called me, he said ‘Yo, I’m good,'” Thompson said.
Surveillance video shows a group of men try to scramble to safety in front of a mini-mart after a barrage of gunfire erupts from a passing van
Friday’s violence did not end after the back-to-back quadruple shootings.
Two men were wanted by police for allegedly shooting a bodega customer during an armed robbery in Brooklyn. Police said the incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. along Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill. The men, police said, got away with roughly $4,600 from the store.
And in Queens, police said a man was shot in his thigh inside a car in Astoria around 2:30 a.m.
A second man died after more gunfire in the Bronx. Police responded in Parkchester to a scene on White Plains Road where they said a 27-year-old was shot dead outside a car. The shooter was reportedly in a green minivan.
Despite the weekend spike, New York City is seeing fewer shootings compared to this time last year. New numbers from the NYPD show shootings are down 27% in the first five weeks of this year.
