Two young people died in a shooting last night on a busy restaurant street in Queens (NYC) and two more were injured in Brooklyn and the Bronx, at the beginning of the weekend.
The NYPD’s Shot Spotter detection system recorded at least 14 shots near the corner of Steinway St. and Astoria Blvd. around 10:30 p.m. Friday, the NYPD said. The shooting took place in a row of neighborhood restaurants specializing in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. A mosque is also directly across the street, he said. Daily News.
Officers found 22-year-old Xavier Roberts lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his stomach and legs. The second victim, Jaheim Hamilton (21), was found a block away at 24-35 38th St., wounded in the torso. The two young men were rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, but could not be saved.
Both were Bronx residents and were in Queens last night with another man, Roberts’ brother, who was uninjured.
Roberts’ brother told police the three were walking down Steinway St. when a man came up behind them and started shooting, but he couldn’t see his face.
“My brother was a role model, my brother was a hero,” the unidentified brother told Daily News. “Any enemies I had were out of envy.” Witnesses saw two men run towards a waiting black Jeep Cherokee and fled. NYPD believes the victims were targeted, but the motive for the shooting is unclear.
Roberts had no criminal record, but was wanted for questioning in two shootings that occurred in 2019 and 2020, according to a law enforcement source. Hamilton had been arrested once, but for a misdemeanor. They were the third men to be shot on the streets of Astoria in just five days, after Troy Evans, 36, on Monday.
Shortly thereafter, in Brooklyn, a 25-year-old was shot in the left leg during a dispute in Brownsville. And in the Bronx around 1 am a man was stabbed in the neck during another complaint on Washington Avenue, near East 170th St. Both were hospitalized in stable condition, he reported. New York Post.
No arrests have been made or suspects identified in any of these cases. Anyone with information should call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and in Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Also through crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
Young people are increasingly protagonists in gun violence in New York as victims and perpetrators, particularly shootings and attacks with bladed weapons. In September an NYPD report found that recidivism among teens had risen sharply over the past five years and the number of gunmen and their underage victims had tripled.