Two suspects who are accused of shooting eight people, including three children, at a house party in the Bronx this past weekend have been arrested and charged by police. Onell Dasilva, 17, turned himself in yesterday and was charged with eight counts of attempted murder; Phillip Muir, 21, who has 16 prior arrests, was also charged with eight counts of attempted murder, multiple counts of possessing and using a firearm, and reckless endangerment. more ›

An innocent bystander who was shot and killed on her stoop in Crown Heights feared gun violence at the West Indian Day parade. 56-year-old Denise Gay was shot in the head by a stray bullet fired by gunman Leroy Webster, who also shot and killed Eusi Johnson after a dispute. Webster, who also shot two police officers in a massive firefight on Franklin Avenue at Park Place, remains in critical condition, and did not die as was originally reported. "She was afraid to go outside because of the parade," Gay's sister tells the Daily News, "Denise was always worried about gun violence." Gay reportedly collapsed into her daughter's arms after being shot. "She thought her mother tripped. Her mother died in her arms," Gay's sister said. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Over 40 bullets were fired last night in a Crown Heights shooting near the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Park Place, leaving three two people dead, injuring two NYPD officers, and putting a bloody exclamation point on a very violent Labor Day weekend. Police say career criminal Leroy Webster, 32, emerged from a Park Place building around 9 p.m. and opened fire on Eusi Johnson, 29, who was walking with his cousin. Johnson was fatally shot in the neck, and bystander Denise Gay was shot in the head as she sat on her stoop with her daughter. Gay, 56, died from her wounds. more ›

An all-night barbeque held by friends leading up to today's West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn turned deadly when shots rang out early this morning and two men were left dead, a third wounded. 25-year-old Marvin Brown and 26-year-old David Harris were fatally shot while hanging out at the party on Chester Street in Brownsville. Brown was shot in the head and killed instantly when the incident took place around 5:45 a.m. Another man was wounded after being shot in the leg and a fourth punched in the face. A woman at the bbq told the News, "The vibe was cool - everybody knows everybody. Everybody's talking and laughing. It was family and friends, and I guess it just got a little out of hand." Friends and family say that there's no way Brown, who had just finished training to be an ambulance driver, could have been the intended target. One buddy said, "There's nothing you couldn't not like about him." more ›

The NYPD has gotten less attention for catching criminals this weekend than it has for catching babies. While yesterday's special delivery story came along an exit ramp of the BQE in Brooklyn, this time a cop assisted a couple whose birth plan ended up with an audible not too far across the river from there just out of the Battery Tunnel in lower Manhattan. 28-year-old Officer Theodore Plevritis was flagged down by a cab driver exiting the tunnel, honking his horn and waving wildly as Ester Abbot was going into labor in his backseat just before 6 a.m yesterday. The officer said he could see that "this baby was ready to go," and ended up delivering it within five minutes. Plaevritis, a bachelor with no children, told the News, "I caught the baby; she did all the work. She was slippery. I just wanted to make sure I held onto her." The officer says his knowledge of the process came strictly from a Police Academy training video. The baby girl and mother are both healthy at NYU Medical Center. more ›

Today marks the start of the long Labor Day weekend. The AAA thinks 39.1 million travelers nationwide will make a trip of 50 miles or more, which is a 13.3% drop from last year. Why? Because Labor Day is occurring later than usual (and in other states, their school years start in August) and that probably means many people are staycationing! The later Labor Day is a mixed blessing: One retail worker told the NY Times, "My personal reaction is, it’s more time to enjoy summer. But my business reaction is that it will make the fall tough," while a high schooler said, "Very few people want to go back to school. It gives us more time to dread it." Are you staycationing (the West Indian American Day Parade is on Monday!) or really vacationing? And remember, you can wear white after Labor Day (or so we hear). more ›

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and several smiles as well as lots of cash were raised by some plucky urban ironing. London is apparently full of lies and whales: one of these things is true. We leave that up to you to figure out. more ›

A terrible accident in the Bronx: Police believe that an SUV on East Tremont was speeding around 4AM when it crashed into a telephone pole and flipped over. 1010WINS says the vehicle was "ripped apart" at Commonwealth Avenue. Three men were ejected from the SUV and pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth passenger, a woman, died at Jacobi Hospital. more ›

Bruni goes to Lidia Bastianich’s Felidia (last reviewed and three-starred by Ruth Reichl in 1995) and reaffirms the three-stars. He’s crazy about the risotto, and calls its food “surprisingly distinctive in a city infatuated with, and just about saturated by, various kinds of Italian cuisine.” more ›

Spigelman will be joined by a number of other authors - Nicholas Basbanes, Richard Brookhiser, Adam Bellow, Harold Evans, John Fund, Amy Goodman, Nat Hentoff, Peter Osnos - at the Strand (826 Broadway at 12th) from 12PM-4PM; C-SPAN will also be broadcasting the readings and Q&A's! Here's Michiko Kakutani's NY Times review of In The Shadows of No Towers A Comics Journal interview with Spiegelman, some Maus resources. And for other things to do this Labor Day Weekend: Coolfer's Music Picks
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