Shootings around Franklin--at least 4 in the past four days

Sorry Annie -- people just tend to wonder sometimes whether stuff like this is true. A month or two ago someone posted that there had been a rape in broad daylight in Prospect Park that week; lots of searching on local news websites brought up nothing about it, and that poster never said anything about it again. In a thread on the Prospect Heights board, a guy claims to have been shot at near Vanderbilt last week, but a lot of the details of his story sound fishy. (Edited to add: He did return tonight and added some info, so maybe that'll make people feel less suspicioius about what he says happened.) And there have been other incidents in which people have posted information on this site about crimes in the area that turned out to be false -- whether they were doing it as a sociological experiment or for shits 'n' giggles or what is anybody's guess. But it does make some folks skeptical.

I did do some searching about for news about this shooting you're talking about and couldn't find ANYTHING anywhere about it. I'm not saying you're a liar, necessarily, but I have to say that I'm not automatically convinced, since there's no additional info available. Or it's possible that something else happened, and someone at the scene lied to you. I would think the accidental shooting of a child in his home on a major drag in Brooklyn would attract at least a couple of news stories.

If it did happen the public should know about it. The police and the rest of the city government are really invested in being able to say crime is still down and NYC is safe and everything's all candy canes and puppy noses, and raising awareness about violence that happens is one way the public can be informed enough to hold the city accountable for doing something about these problems. I would encourage you and anyone else who finds out about things like this happening in the neighborhood to send something in to the tips lines at some of the local papers/tv stations to raise awareness about it and get someone rolling on verifying stories like these.

Subject: Re: To Qualify Oneself

LeeHo wrote: Perhaps this posting is in the wrong place, but it seems as if people can't even get along on some anonymous neighborhood website, how are they gonna believe and face each other in person and in a direct manner to solve whatever problems need to be solved? Ugh. :?

glad you posted that,
i had similar feelings but just couldn't manage to word them gracefully

hopefully we are all here for the same reasons: concern for our neighborhoods, to help each other and to enjoy the feeling of being part of a community

Sheesh.

anniewilde, I'm sorry that you took my post so personally. It wasn't intended to "namecall" or insult you. It was just reasonable skepticism about a random post from a stranger on an anonymous message board, and it had nothing to do with race or class or anything. I didn't know what your race was when I wrote that, and you still don't know mine, or my gender (and I'm keeping those personal details to myself).

I am glad you took the time to post the information you had about the neighborhood. Thanks for doing that. I want to know as much as possible about the neighborhood, and problems currently happening. Thank you too for coming back to clarify what your source was.

sje wrote: I've been thinking about the guy who was shot on Franklin, and the fact that his address was so far away. It should be much easier to keep dealers out of CH if they aren't even residents, no?

i was thinking the same thing and it is one of my questions for the precinct if i am ever able to have a conversation with them. i have not had good luck even though i call constantly and i took the time to fax over my concerns which were compiled largely from what i read here

anyway hope you can make this:
Crow Hill Community Meeting
Tuesday 9/19 7:30 pm
Haitian American Day Care Center
1491 Bedford Ave (at St Johns Pl)
ring bell on the corner

I have no idea what to expect, except that i am bringing people from my block and have posted it in all the buildings that are part of the former Jewish Hospital

I have good luck reaching the detective when I call very early, like 7:20 a.m. Maybe ONE of us should call, get a complete listing of what has happened and then list it here, quoting the detective, for all of us to see. That way we can avoid rumors, because though NO DOUBT stuff has been happening on the street, it is also true that the rumor mill is working overtime, and we want to be accurate and clear in understanding the situation because that's the best way to seek improvement.

And yes, Anniewilde, to meet in person. Because I think you are right, and also that written words are too easily misunderstood, but I'm very glad this forum exists and you are all out there watching my back.

Maybe some of us are going tonight?

i have tried Det. McClean early as well and yesterday i did get through, she asked me to fax my concerns, which i did but we did not seem to be able to connect again all day, this morning i started calling again 7:15 but have only gotten voice mail or a busy signal

this is what i faxed


To: Detective McLean
718-735-0642


Below is a summary of incidents that are currently being discussed on either on the street among neighbors or on-line: http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4


Police report: 09-13-2006
AT APPROXIMATELY 2028 HOURS IN FRONT OF 726 FRANKLIN
AVENUE, IN THE CONFINES OF THE 77 PRECINCT, THE VICTIM, A M/B/24 WAS APPROACHED BY AN UNIDENTIFIED M/B/20'S WHO FIRED SEVERAL ROUNDS, STRIKING THE VICTIM ONCE IN THE FACE. THE SUSPECT FLED THE SCENE ON FOOT. THE VICTIM WAS REMOVED TO KINGS COUNTY HOSPITAL WHERE HE WAS PRONOUNCED AT 2345 HRS. THERE IS NO ARREST AT THIS TIME, THE INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING.
VICTIM:
FARYIND, KEVIN M/B/24
1098 E. 95 STREET
BROOKLYN


There was a post this morning saying that the shooter had been caught


9/13

I heard that there were also gunshots at 4 a.m. on Tuesday night, but if so, I slept through them.


9/14 shooting

spoke with a policewoman on the corner of St. John's (I think) and Franklin and was told that there was another shooting last night before 9pm) on that corner. Anyone hear about that?

Here's what I heard today from Rupert across the street. Apparently some of those shots were fired down Sterling because his van -- he showed me -- has two bullet holes in the front windshield. He said the cops were with him until 3 a.m. the night of the shooting. They recovered the bullets. He says the cops told him they know who the shooter is, but haven't got him yet. He also says the cops say the shooters were Crips, while those being shot at were Bloods.



late night on Thursday night 9/14

GUN PULLED AND FIRED ON ME ON THURSDAY 1:30 in the morning i was walking from Prospect Place down to Vanderbilt. Well i was approached (40 yards away) by a young man wearing a red hat, red shirt... he mumbled something i couldn't hear that well, and out of the blue he pulls a gun out and starts shooting i would say about 3 shots with a small caliber gun...i basically ran to soda, and spread the word.. so i figured i would do the same here..


Friday 9/15 (night)

shooting on lincoln & franklin
reported by neighbor



9/15

fire on st marks between classon & franklin


On the board there has been a claim that there have been 4 shootings between Tuesday and Saturday, this is the information provided:

The first shooting is the murder on Franklin Avenue, which took place in broad daylight. There was another shooting on Lincoln Place, and then two other shootings in the immediate vicinity, but I don't have the exact locations on those. My advice: talk to the beat cops, they'll often tell you that there's been a shooting--they won't necessarily give you details, however.



Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:22

right on Eastern Parkway, in the direction of the Brooklyn Museum, this morning, there was another shooting in a top-floor apartment building. A woman was sitting in her apartment and heard glass shattering, only to discover her 8-year old son had been shot in the chest. There was an ambulance there (this morning), and the child was taken away,

still alive at this point, but who knows. Bystanders said that the child had been shot from a distance with a high-powered automatic weapon of some kind which fired through the window. This is not "further in"--all of these shootings are taking place within a few blocks, in fact, of the most "gentrified" blocks around! I really hope people aren't in such denial that they're imagining that this kind of violence is somehow contained or containable.



9/17

There were gunshots sometime early Sunday morning, in front of my apt building on St. Johns between Rogers & Nostrand. In fact, there were two separate instances, the first for which I called 911, and the second for which I seem to have just, while cringing, fallen back asleep.



How many shootings have there been in the past week in the area around Franklin and Park Place and how many deaths?
I am also curious if the fire is being considered arson.
I do have some other questions as well and would like an opportunity to speak with you.



I think it is a great idea if tonight we can make a master list of all our concerns
We can use this as a basis for:
contact with the 77th precinct
a media blitz including editorial pages
a political blitz: Mayor, Borough Pres, Councilmember, etc

That last crime was solved. They caught the shooters very quickly - it was that night I believe. We discussed that one at the community council meeting with the commanding officer. I don't think we need to include that one in the mix. We know what happened and it was the parade weekend.

annie

it's not indifference. i plainly said that i wish there wasn't violence within this community. but the hysterical hand-wringing by new residents to this neighborhood (including you and your tale of 8-year olds getting shot by snipers with kalashnikovs) reeks of gentrifiers being terrified by their surroundings and viewing their new neighbors as murderous gunslingers. and that's just sad. so while kids play baseball on the street and gypsy cab drivers loiter outside their depots, the new arrivals tremble with the fear that a bullet is going to leave their brains splattered in front of halal motherland. that's what i'm seeing all over this thread.

you said you moved here because it was funky and diverse. it's not. it's a low-income caribbean community being flooded by transplanted minnesotans. so, in the interests of a reality-based discussion, let's address the problem of street violence by fostering better relationships between new and old residents instead of shrieking wildly about how it's a bullet-riddled battlefield. because it's not one.

Guest, this is not a problem of old residents vs. new residents. It's a problem of drug dealers/users shooting each other, and ALL other residents are in the middle. Hence the "handwringing". I think Crown Heights IS a funky and diverse neighborhood also, like it or not. I moved here after 6 years on Washington because it's what I could afford. I have no intention of moving until my lease expires, because I like the neighborhood, {sans violence}, and even then, I'll look in CH for my next apt. I am not from "Minnesota", but a native New Yorker. I suspect people posting here, full of concern for recent violence, are a cross section of the population, and probably not all from the midwest {not that there's anything wrong with it}. One main differing factor between the new residents and the old may be computer literacy. I've spoken to many old timers while walking my dogs, and I don't think some people here even have a computer.

I understand now why my landlady looked at me like I was crazy when I told her I intended to put the bed in the front by the window. It's now moved away from the window. :x

Guest, you're implying that all my nice neighbors who might happen to be working class and of caribbean origin DON'T MIND gun violence in their neighborhood. Like if you're poor and an immigrant, that you're so used to that shit that it doesn't bother you! That's SUCH BS.

Best not to feed the trolls or take the bait when trolls try to start a pissing contest, but this just had to be said.

that's not implied at all. do i have to reiterate over and over that we all wish there wasn't violence? but again, we all wish there wasn't violence. that includes me, you, every iowan, every caribbean, every baby burned with a flamethrower in front of yafaa. violence isn't an acceptable thing in any community.

but from the posts on this thread and across this board, people -- mostly self-described new arrivals -- are behaving like tang courses through their veins. just re-read some of their quotes.

the sole point that i've been trying to emphasis is that this neighborhood isn't a war zone because of a few incidents of violence. and carrying such a misconception around on your shoulders while trying to integrate an area is more harmful than good.

Did anybody mention the shooting on the corner of Kingston and Dean two nights ago. Two males shot. One may have gone DOA, I'm not sure.

Hi everyone --

I've noticed that a lot of the comments on this board regarding the recent shootings concern the lack of attention being paid to these incidents in the media. If any of you are interested in speaking with a CUNY Graduate School of Journalism student about your concerns, I'd be happy to listen.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, September 20) I'll be working until about 4 p.m. on an article about efforts to get more police walking the beat in Crown Heights. So if anyone wants to get on the record about these issues for the piece I'm working on (which, for full disclosure, I should mention has not yet been sold for publication), please don't hesitate to contact me.

For the record, I am interested in hearing all sides of this issue -- I'd love to talk to those who feel there is a problem as well as those who think people are overreacting.

Thanks.