College Bandmates Forced Into Fire Sale At Gunpoint In Bed-Stuy

Say what you will about the perils of gentrification, getting pistol whipped and robbed out of house and home should make one an honorary member of the neighborhood. A group of Brooklyn college students and musicians moved into a cheap apartment on the eastern edge of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, and only two weeks later were robbed at gunpoint of thousands of dollars of musical equipment and beaten with a pistol.

The four boys, most of them in their late teens, were happy about the $1,850/month rent and a place for their band, P.M.E.R. (Power.Music.Electric. Revival.) to rehearse. Hardily living in other Brooklyn locales, the boys—both black and white—figured this area would be no different: "We had lived in the 'hood," one of them tells the Times. Another says, "Call it naïveté or whatever. 'We can defend ourselves.'" However, their apartment was just a block from Chauncey Street, "nicknamed 'Chancy' among neighbors" for its 24-hour police presence and constant gunfire. One resident "giggled as she recalled a recent morning when she was late to work because there were too many bullets flying to cross Chauncey. It's also nearby the subway stop where you can get free walks home.

But one night, one of the roommates heard a shout from outside and saw a man carrying their bass guitar away. Another burglar then burst into the apartment brandishing a gun, as another roommate tells the paper: "He leans into my face and he's like 'Do you see me? Do you see my face? and I'm like, 'Yeah," and—bam!—he hits me in the face," dislodging his tooth. After they carry most of their equipment downstairs at the orders of the assailant, the police arrived and he was forced to jump out the window, where he was injured and arrested. Another assailant was also captured, but the band had to buy a new bass and are still missing equipment.

However, they remain undeterred, looking for a new apartment in Bushwick and batting away parental concern: "My mom was like, 'Do you want to come home?' I was like, 'Nah.'" Spoken like a true Brooklynite.