Police are investigating five homicides that occurred in Brooklyn and Queens on Friday. The victims were shot in four separate, apparently unrelated incidents.
The first shooting was in Springfield Gardens, Queens: Around 12:30 a.m., police say they received a 911 call of a male shot in front of 145-04 176 Street. Responding officers found Angel Nixon, 18, with gunshot wounds to the head, torso and leg. Nixon was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital.
Just after 8 p.m., police responded to a 911 call about a male shot in front of 107-19 Sutphin Boulevard, in Jamaica, Queens, and found Gregory Haskins, 25, with a gunshot wound in the chest. Haskins was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital.
At 9:20 p.m., the NYPD says officers responded to a report about a dispute at the corner of Union Street and Sutter Avenue in Brownsville. There they found Arsenio Gravesande, 28, with a gunshot wound to his left hip. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Finally, at approximately 10:11 p.m., later in Coney Island, police found a 27-year-old with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and a 38-year-old with a gunshot wound to the head in front of 2620 West 19th Street. Both men were taken to Coney Island Hospital where they were pronounced dead.
No arrests have been made and the investigations are continuing.
Last month, after revealing that shootings have gone up 27% citywide in the first half of 2019, versus the first half of 2018, NYPD Chief of Patrol Terrence Monahan complained that the Brooklyn District Attorney's office was allowing too many people arrested for gun possession to enter no-jail diversion programs. However, a spokesperson for the D.A.'s office told the Post, "“The real problem isn’t diversion, but the fact that approximately 67% of shootings and homicides in Brooklyn North remain unsolved, leaving violent individuals on the streets."
