NEW YORK — A violent night in the city’s five boroughs left a trail of victims of nearly a dozen, five of whom ultimately died of their injuries, law enforcement officials said.
The gun violence erupted in the first minutes of the day, just after midnight, and went on for nearly 24 hours as the victim count reached 11.
Among the dead, police say a 16-year-old was killed in a shooting in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. Shooting investigators recovered video purporting to show two suspects fleeing the scene.
“I’m so tired, tired of mothers crying, tired of helping mothers bury their children,” Shneaqua Purvis, of Both Sides of Violence, said at a vigil for Amiere Hayes, 16, Tuesday night. the night.
Family and community groups rallied to honor Hayes, who they say was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police say the teen was walking to his house for Marcus Garvey Boulevard when one of two suspects seen on surveillance footage wearing face masks shot him.
Hayes has been described by loved ones as a good boy who got good grades and looked forward to working every summer. Her older sister says that he often took care of her.
“You’d think I would have been the one to teach him things, but he taught me a lot: how to love unconditionally,” she said.
Police have not revealed a possible motive behind the teen’s murder.
Detectives kept busy Monday, a holiday for many, responding to a series of shootings in the city that left nearly a dozen victims scattered across four of the five counties.
Four separate shootings claimed the lives of men in the Bronx and Manhattan as the day progressed. Six additional victims survived in just three shootings, including three women shot in Washington Heights and two people on Staten Island, all wounded within a couple of hours of each other.
Purvis couldn’t contain his frustration at the bloodshed that claimed so many lives.
“When is it going to stop? When? When?” he exclaimed.
Red and white balloons were released into the sky at Hayes’ vigil. And while the boy’s mother prepares to bury her son, others in town prepare to do the same for their loved ones.
According to police data, shootings in New York City overall are down 24% compared to the same period last year.
