What happened at St. John's and Underhill?

me and the wife were walking up sterling towards underhill when we heard 2 pops- i intitially commented to her that "they were too loud to be gun shots'... as we rounded the corner a kid was lowering himself towards the ground on the corner of st john's. he was holding his lower leg saying he'd been shot and to call the police. we called along with about 5 other witnesses. about 2 minutes later the place was swarming with cops.... i hope he's ok. unfortunately we didn't see anyone fleeing the scene and couldn't be of much more help.

(since this appears to be the thread, i'm copying and pasting from my other one)


Apparently it was a drive-by shooting. I was at work tonight when my girlfriend called me around 10:30:

She said she was leaving our apartment on Underhill btw Sterling and St Johns when she heard loud gunshots nearby. She knows the sound well because of the rooftop shooting last week, which was also on our block. She opened the door and the street was relatively full of people, looking normal. There was a man half-running/limping towards St. Johns, where he met with a group of women and collapsed on the sidewalk. Bystanders saw that something was wrong and surrounded him, calling for help on their phones.

She asked what had happened, and one of the women said "Drive by!"

If this is true, and it appears that it is, then this shooting happened directly in front of my apartment. Looking back through various online crime maps, it seems like there has been no violent crime in our little area (by the library, Grand Army Plaza, Vanderbilt) in at least a few years, though it's remained constant a couple blocks away.

What's going on?

Hexatron wrote:
If this is true, and it appears that it is, then this shooting happened directly in front of my apartment. Looking back through various online crime maps, it seems like there has been no violent crime in our little area (by the library, Grand Army Plaza, Vanderbilt) in at least a few years, though it's remained constant a couple blocks away.

What's going on?

This is only a theory/ guess:
A reasonable person conducting an investigation might wonder if their is any relationship between these recent shootings and the upswing in drug dealer/ raid(s) activity in the same areas. This type of thing is sometimes related to money/ turf.

This is sometimes the related consequence when other seemingly innocuous activities are allowed to flourish, i.e.,

"The drug dealers on the corner don't bother anyone, just leave them alone...."

The recent drug raids may be squeezing the market a little or creating opportunities for other ambitious entrepreneurs to compete for new spots. I've seen this in Philly and DC before. Again, I don't know if they are related but wouldn't be surprised if there is a connection either directly or indirectly to drug/crew/gang activity in PH/CH.

giraffehead wrote: The first time I heard gunshots here was that time a month or so ago, 4 or 5 shots fired in the middle of the night around Underhill and Prospect Pl. Cop car came and left, no big to-do followed. The next day saw a couple of cops and asked them if they knew what happened. One said, "No one got hit so it was no big thing." They went on to tell me that if I had lived here a couple years ago I would think nothing of this now (...)

I've lived here 3.5 years, and that incident was the first one that I remember hearing, so I'm not sure about that "couple years ago" thing (depending on how many "a couple" really means).

It's hard to say whether it feels like an upswing, with only one personal data point. Put it together with the two episodes on Underhill that I only heard about on the board, and it's worrying to me.

King without a crown wrote: Well I definitely subscribe to the "Broken Windows" theory, which basically involves addressing the little issues in the neighborhood therefore preventing the larger ones.

I'll subscribe to this theory. If it means calling the cops every day for all the little issues (quality of life, mister meaner, etc.) then, so be it. If it means people will have to put up with increased police activity, so be.
If it means less people being shot. Good. If that's what it takes.

Is it possible to get "Beat cops" into the neigberhood?

What other things can be done?

GOD wrote: [quote=King without a crown]Well I definitely subscribe to the "Broken Windows" theory, which basically involves addressing the little issues in the neighborhood therefore preventing the larger ones.

I'll subscribe to this theory. If it means calling the cops every day for all the little issues (quality of life, mister meaner, etc.) then, so be it.
Crime statistics don't back up "Broken Windows" enforcement as being effective (see this, for example). Worse, tying up the police with petty crime means we have less resources to focus on violent crime. I don't disagree with KwoC's suggestion that we could reduce gun violence by focusing on the kids selling crack in the neighborhood, but this has fuckall to do with "broken windows". Maybe the ones shattered by bullets...

ltjbukem wrote: at 4:30pm this afternoon, a lone cop was standing sentry on the NE corner of st johns and underhill.

Great! Can he guard the hood 24/7 ?

I know wishful thinking.

There will probably be a cop there 24 hours a day for the next few days. The NYPD is very reactive instead of proactive. One reactive measure is to post a cop at the scene of a shooting for a few days.

"Beat cops"? HA! There are barely enough cops to put patrol cars on the street. There is actually a Community Policing Unit but the unit isn't at full staffing and they are being used heavily for parade preparations this week.

howdareu wrote: it wasnt a drive by and no he didnt have drugs on him as so on this topic is saying and yes he is a great gentleman to all, this blog is crazy though; wrong info time and time again

So what REALLY Happened? What's the right info?

Please, enlighten us "Howdareyou".

I only post facts on this board and never said it was a driveby.
I guess the Cops planted the crack on him while putting him in the ambulance.

Hexatron wrote: hey, can someone from the "it didn't happen like that" crowd care to not be so cryptic, and tell us what *really* happened?

I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation -- you know, accidents DO happen. This was probably another gun-totting kid with no bad intentions who inadvertently shot himself -- like this guy:
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you only posts facts that is a joke how do you know he is under arrest for possession

howdareu wrote: you only posts facts that is a joke how do you know he is under arrest for possession

howdareu, he's never come right out and said so, but King without a crown has been posting here for a long time, we're pretty sure he either works for the NYPD or has some very close connections, and he often has more detailed info on stuff like this than has been widely made public. I've always found his posts to be pretty credible, for whatever it's worth.

This is a riddiculous beating around the bush, howdareu..if you know the true story PLEASE by all means, be a dear a fill us in rather then picking fights with people and making broad claims. As it is, you're not adding anything to this discussion.

In the five years I have lived on Washington, there have been shootings at least a few times a year. Whether it's on St. J & UH, Linc and Wash, St. Marks, or Classon, this is not a new thing. It's drugs, general beef, and random crime. It's not the Village, or Brooklyn Heights. This is still the hood, and will remain so until the dealers and criminals are forced out of the places where they live. (Which will be soon enough.) A lot of people who post on DH buy pot from the same people involved in these incidents.