Teen killed, four men wounded as gunfire erupts on Brooklyn boardwalk
A teenage girl was killed and four men wounded after bullets started flying yesterday on the Brighton Beach boardwalk, where thousands of young people had flocked to spend a school holiday in the sun.
"It was a bad combination of guns, heat, beer and angry young men," a police source said, pointing to empty Olde English malt-liquor bottles littering the area.
The mayhem began at around 5:20 p.m. when two cousins said they walked past some Crips and looked at the gang bangers the wrong way.
"It was all over a glance," the 22-year-old man told The Post.
HIT: A medic tends to one of the five victims yesterday at Brighton Beach, which was packed with kids enjoying a day off.
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HIT: A medic tends to one of the five victims yesterday at Brighton Beach, which was packed with kids enjoying a day off.
"We just looked back, and they started shooting."
The man was hit in the head by a bottle, and his cousin, also 22, was shot in the arm and leg.
"I rushed over to him. He kept saying, 'Get me some water.'
"We wrapped his arm and leg with a towel, and that's when the cops came. It was hard to tell what was going on. I was too emotional and crying," said the man, who insisted that neither he nor his cousin have any gang affiliation.
Law-enforcement sources said investigators believe that only one person fired a weapon and that some of the wounded may not have been intended targets.
In addition to the crowds brought out by yesterday's sweltering temperatures, the boardwalk was also packed with students who had the day off for Brooklyn-Queens Day.
The hail of bullets struck a Harlem teen identified as Tysha Jones, 16, who died at Coney Island Hospital.
"She was crying, and she fell back and she just wasn't moving at all," said a witness who asked not to be identified.
"RIP to dis girl Tysha Jones, who was shot at Brighton today," one Twitter user wrote.
Julien Boudet, 23, was enjoying lunch with his girlfriend at the Tatiana Grill when he was hit by a stray bullet in the restaurant.
"He was just putting water on the wound and then the ambulance came and took him away," an eatery employee said.
Boudet, a French exchange student, was shot in the leg and rushed to Lutheran Medical Center in stable condition.
"He was just trying to enjoy the day," said one of his pals.
"He called me and said he'd been shot. I saw him for a second before the ambulance showed up, and he was in shock."
Another victim, James White, 17 -- who took a photo of Tysha and a pal before she was slain -- suffered a graze wound in the shoulder.
"I wasn't paying no mind, then the shooting started," White said after being released from Lutheran.
The final victim was identified by sources as 26-year-old Wayne Gibbons. He was listed in stable condition. "I saw three people on the ground," said witness J.J. Allison. "One was screaming, one was covered all in blood. It was horrible."
A stray bullet flew into the sixth-floor apartment of a woman who lives in the Scheuer House, a home on Brighton Sixth Street for the elderly. The woman was watching television at the time and was not wounded.
Cops said they were questioning two people, but neither had been charged.
Another witness, who asked not to be identified, saw one man taken into custody.
"The cops grabbed one who had a helmet on. He was trying to run away to his motorcycle," he said.
"The cops threw him down and put the cuffs on."
The shootings didn't surprise neighbors, who've gotten used to trouble on previous Brooklyn-Queens Days.
"These kids come not to swim, they come for turf fights," said Pat Singer, president of the Brighton Beach Neighborhood Association.
"It's a problem every year. It's really hard on the businesses. All day long, all you see are hundreds of teenagers. Of course you're going to have problems."
Today is the traditional senior cut day, and neighbors are bracing for the possibility of more problems.
José Sierra, who was at the beach with his daughter, said: "It was wild. I heard like eight or nine shots and screaming, and everyone was running. It was chaotic and crazy."
Added student Lori Bullard, 16: "I heard the shots and got scared and ran into the ocean and swam. I figured that was the one safe place to go."
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Rebecca Harshbarger, Tim Perone, Jamie Schram and Rich Calder
Teenage girl killed and four others wounded in boardwalk shooting at New York beach
A teenage girl was killed and four others wounded after gunmen opened fire at a group sitting on a bench by a New York City beach.
The shootings by two gunmen happened during an altercation just before 5:30 p.m. on the Brighton Beach boardwalk in Brooklyn.
All of the victims were sitting on the same bench. Police are investigating the possibility the shooting was gang related.
Popular: The boardwalk at Brighton Beach where the drama took place on Thursday afternoon
Popular: The boardwalk at Brighton Beach where the drama took place on Thursday afternoon
The girl who died
has not yet been identified. She was shot under the left armpit and died
at Coney Island Hospital, where a 23-year-old man was in critical
condition with a stomach wound.
Also wounded were a 21-year-old, a 25-year-old and a 26-year-old. They were taken to Lutheran Hospital.
Police were questioning some people, but declined to say whether they were potential suspects.
No arrests have been made. The investigation is continuing.
Pat Singer, the
founder of the Brighton Neighbourhood Association, said the hot weather
had brought hordes of young people to the beach. 'It's massive chaos,'
she said.
Saya Suzuki, 30,
was just about to sit down inside a nearby restaurant with her
6-year-old daughter, Sonya, when the shooting began just outside.
Miss Suzuki told The New York Times she heard about six shots, then grabbed her daughter and saw two teenagers run past her.
'I just picked up
my daughter and got away from the bullets,' she said. 'It happened so
quickly and I had to protect my daughter.'
'Everybody was running and screaming,' Joe Sierra told New York's Daily News. 'It was chaotic for five to 10 minutes.'
The area that borders Coney Island is home to a large Russian emigre population.