Here's a tip for you as you begin your week: If you're going to be somewhere illegal, expect that legal things won't be happening there. A good example of this happened in Brooklyn on Saturday night. When most of us were searching every bodega within a 10 block radius for D batteries in preparation for Hurricane Irene's arrival, two men were shot in Brooklyn, one fatally. According to The Daily News, the shooting occurred in an illegal "social club," which we imagine probably isn't that social anymore. more ›

Less than a day after a fatal shooting in East New York that also left eight injured, a shooting in Brooklyn has left four men and one woman injured. According to WCBS 2, the violence broke out at Nostrand Avenue and Fenimore Street around 12:30 a.m. today: "Police say it started over some sort of dispute." more ›

Three men celebrating a birthday at an illegal underground club in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens were stabbed in a fight outside the speakeasy early Sunday morning. Police have not identified the names of the victims, but the NYPD says a 21-year-old man was fatally stabbed in the chest and the stomach. One source tells the Wall Street Journal the man was attending a party with his friends at a basement speakeasy near Rogers Avenue and Fenimore Street when he got into an argument with another group of men. more ›

While most of us were knocking back egg nog and threatening our parents with Christmas Trees, one woman endured a horrible accident on Christmas day when her leg got trapped between an elevator car and the shaft wall. The 47-year-old woman was dragged up eight floors with her leg stuck in that position at the Downstate SUNY Medical Center in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. "There was a lot of blood...A big chunk of her leg was missing. It looked like someone ripped it open with a knife," sources told the News. more ›

The Chinese restaurant worker who was mauled by three pit bulls Sunday morning claims the dogs' owner was more concerned with her pets' safety than his gruesome injuries. Xiu Ming Li was visited in his hospital bed by the Daily News yesterday, and the tabloid paints the scene in classic maudlin brush strokes: "Blood seeped from fresh white gauze covering bite marks on his arms and legs. His right ear—where he lost an earlobe—was also wrapped in gauze. His wife sat at his bedside, her eyes full of tears." Somewhere, off in the distance, a dog barked? more ›

A pit bull died yesterday after mauling a Chinese restaurant owner trying to slide a menu under the door of a house in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Xiu Ming Li, 52, was mauled by three pit bulls during the attack, and is currently listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital with bites on his legs, arm and head. One of his earlobes was also chewed off! The dogs' owner, Samantha Sing, and the landlord, Desiree Murray, heard the dogs' barking and rushed outside to try and stop them. "He was saying ‘Help me, help me," Murray tells the Post. "He was just lying there. They would have killed him." more ›

Remember that free building in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens? Unsurprisingly, the whole thing was a prank. Reportedly a local resident was fed up with the rundown building (located at 205 Parkside Avenue) and decided to put up a sign and a Craigslist ad advertising it for free. The prankster told the Daily News: "We want to see something positive happening with the building [not just a] festering rathole on what could be a lively thriving commercial strip." more ›

Brooklyn legend has it that when one Jim Mamary neighborhood restaurant closes, another opens in a gentrifying neighborhood somewhere else. As is lore, Smith Street’s “pioneer restaurant” Patois closed January 11 [or did it?]; last week, Billy Sunday’s BBQ opened for business in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Named for this guy, the restaurant’s dark interior is all cozy booths and dim lights; walls are covered with splinter-friendly wood, and the smokehouse vibe calms neighborhood families. Last night, both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and inaugural CNN played side-by-side on bar TVs. Blogger Hawthorne Street has been the de facto NORAD for the BBQ spot, and has the lowdown on Billy Sunday’s menu, which includes $4 Genessee cans and smoked meat by the half pound ($7-$9) served on butcher paper. more ›

The police are investigating the death of a 2-week-old baby, who was found dead in the mother's apartment. The baby had initially been reported missing from Kings County Hospital: According to the Post, the mother told ER workers "she had taken him there and wanted to see him," but when the hospital couldn't find any record of the baby, they contacted the police who went to the mother's apartment in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. The NY Times reports that the mother has two other young children, "about 2 and 3 years old." The authorities removed the children from the apartment: "They were in pajamas and seemed unstartled by the activity swirling around them: the police, the news cameras." more ›

American Airlines refuted a family's claims that a Brooklyn woman died because of faulty equipment and attention. The airline's spokesman said, "American Airlines, after investigation, has determined that oxygen was administered on the aircraft, and it was working." more ›

In an extremely embarrassing incident for the Brooklyn DA's office, an audio technician taped over a statement made by a cop killer while in custody. The DA's office will now have to rely on a detective's notes taken during that statement and the videotape recorded during a follow-up interview with suspect Robert Ellis. more ›

Three separate clashes in Brooklyn and Manhattan left three men dead and two people wounded. The first occurred late Friday night, when a 51-year-old Harlem resident was shot in his apartment building at 353 West 115th Street. Willie Woods, who the Post reports was a "parolee who served time on drug charges" but managed to stay out of trouble and work as a janitor for his building and others in he neighborhood, was shot in... more ›

Today, the Daily News prints a heartbreaking letter from Tatyana and Leonid Timoshenko, the parents of police officer Russel Timoshenko who died after being shot on a July 9 traffic stop in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. The Timoshenkos, who immigrated to the U.S. from Belarus in 1993, thank the Kings County Hospital staff, NYPD, and "all of the people of New York and the entire nation who prayed with us." The News has a PDF of the letter here. more ›

Twenty-three-year-old police officer Russel Timoshenko died yesterday at King County Hospital, five days after being shot twice in the face during a Monday traffic stop in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Doctors took him off life support after finding he had no brain activity yesterday afternoon. KCH director of trauma service and surgical critical care, Dr. Robert Kurtz, was visibly upset as he reported Timoshenko's death. From Newsday:

Kurtz, who choked up, said the case "affected us emotionally as well as professionally." more ›

Police arrested one man but are still looking for two others involved with Monday's violent traffic stop in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. When police officers Russel Timoshenko and Herman Yan approached over a BMW SUV with stolen license plates, shots rang out from the car, injuring both officers. Twenty-nine-year-old Lee Woods was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault on a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon. The two other men being sought have criminal histories; from the NY Times:

Dexter Bostic, 34, one of those being sought, first went to state prison in 1990 for assault, robbery and sodomy, officials said. He got out in nine years, but went back for three more in 2001. On parole until 2009, he was working at a Long Island car dealership last week when his parole officer last visited him, officials said. more ›

A 46-year-old Brooklyn man shot his 21-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Lebrun Dossous, who the Post and Daily News describe as being depressed (the News suggests that he was "despondent that his son was moving out"), shot his son five times while he was taking a shower. Then Dossous shot himself in his bedroom. more ›