Updated links:
The park is cordoned off on the 7th and 41st side, and there are a couple of officers standing by to stop anyone from crossing through that way.
Friends of Sunset Park has a posting
NY Daily News
Gothamist has links to 1010WINS and NY Daily News
NY1 has a video and article
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Last night two men were killed around 7th Avenue and 41st Street. If it was the shots I heard, it was around 8 PM. But then it could have been fire-crackers.
Here's a link. I'll add more later for those who are interested.
19 comments:
A sad day for our park, the neighborhood and those who died.
The one positive (or, not-so-negative) in this is that these types of crimes always seem to be somewhat isolated - the violence is restricted to the rivals.
This is frightening and yet I know I can't/won't stop using the park. I was upset by a quote from a 42 year-old man who said he wouldn't go there anymore. How are others feeling?
Crap, i live across the street, as well as use the park weekly. I think i'll stay home now.
I live across the street, too, but I don't think the answer is to just disappear from the park. From what I have read, this shooting didn't have anything to do with the park per se...no one was waiting in the overgrown bushes ready to jump out at the next stranger ambling by.
The cops seem to be saying it was a targeted gang shooting...it could have happened at any other basketball court, or outside the Key Food, or outside the subway, or wherever these two guys happened to be hanging out yesterday.
It was tough seeing the police tape up this morning, but that park is one of the most family-friendly places I've ever seen in NYC. It would be a real shame if this incident made people abandon it.
Why? Unless you are part of the extended family and friends, you have little to worry about. I can guarantee you the victims knew the shooter. All the shootings on my old block ( there were three ) were between family members and friends. But you need to get used to this level of violence, it's part of the landscape of SP. I seem to remember the nickname "gunset park"... If this is all surprising to you, this saturday evening walk 5th ave from the park down to the 60's, and walk back along 4th ave. Look carefully at what is going on in the street. Don't be afraid, remember what I said above about the violence being contained to the local social groupings.
unfortunate, ive lived in sunset park my whole life and have always felt safe.
i wonder what the folks at One Sunset Park must be thinking? Will it hurt their sales?
I was thrilled, coming home from work this evening, to see families all over the park. There was a normal hustle and bustle to the surrounding area. It doesn't look like most people are retreating to their homes. The only things we're doing different is making sure we go out with cell phones, even on short walks and keeping our eyes more open than usual.
Dan and Anonymous,
I guess you guys are right. It was a spur of the moment feeling. I've been using the park for the past 4 years. It would be hard to give up. I do see the police cruisers making their rounds almost constantly. Though the comment about "Gunset Park" may be accurate. When I was googling this incident I read about an incident at the 44th and 6th ave entrance on july 15th where a car was driving by and someone in the car was popping off rounds into the park. No one was hurt but stray bullets could have hit kids that frequent that area.
"If this is all surprising to you, this saturday evening walk 5th ave from the park down to the 60's, and walk back along 4th ave. Look carefully at what is going on in the street." So wise and so true. A lot of people have been sold on what is a thin veneer of respectability in SP and are moving in, blissfully unaware of what lingers beneath the surface... you can see it if you bother to look around you, you can feel it if you have an instinctive bone in your body. If you don't notice, if you're surprised by the shootings, you are a master at self-deception, or a fool. This is still Sunset Park, no matter how much you and your baby stroller and your foodie blogs and your art galleries want to pretend it's Park Slope. Look around you.
Saying that this is Sunset Park is not really fair. This is NYC would be more accurate. There was a string of hold ups at banks and stores in Manhattan last summer. We had someone killed on our very nice Manhattan block by a crazy knife wielding person. Violence is not unique to Sunset Park. Apart from a domestic incident a few months ago, there were no murders in Sunset Park for three years.
"The only things we're doing different is making sure we go out with cell phones"
So when you are shot and killed you can phone home? What is the logic to carrying a phone Katherine?
"there were no murders in Sunset Park for three years."
You really trust crime statistics in reporting or gang or drug activities? I briefly lived in a small but extremely violent city...reported murders were around once a month. But as the bartender at the last place to close up at night I saw and heard the truth of the city. Many murders went unreported. I'm sure the same happens here.
I love SP, and feel safe and at home. However, this area has a dark under belly.
"This is still Sunset Park, no matter how much you and your baby stroller and your foodie blogs and your art galleries want to pretend it's Park Slope. Look around you."
Oh for pete's sake, give us a break. Why don't you actually talk to a few of the people you think have dreams of Park Slope dancing in their heads, instead of resorting to tired, cliched stereotypes?
Ha ha. Yes, I see no reason not to trust crime stats. If you know so much about unreported murders, why aren't you reporting them? Where are the dead bodies? Let's be real and quit pretending we live in a detective show. I live on a block where neighbors look out for one another. And yes, I push a stroller. The horror!
"United we stand, Divided we fall"
its not only sunset tho, its all over the place. even in the upper class neighborhoods stuff like this happens. im sorry but i could never feel safe there tho. i live right across the street, and Monday night when i came home i felt an eerie feeling, to come and hear my father in law tell me what just happened. those streets are just filled with people who don't get along with no one, this block got beef with this one and so forth. this will constantly always happen.
as to that comment that their hasn't been anyone killed in the last 3 yrs, this summer, on 52 street bet 4 & 5, someone was just shot in front of their house. so where ever that info came from, its false. look it up, you'll find the shooting.
for those of you that feel safe, just be careful. you never know what situation you might end up in. so be aware of your surroundings at all times. don't let your guards down, cuz you too could have be strolling down the park that night and could have ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I want to know when Sara "Do Nothing" Gonzalez is going to do something about cleaning up our neighborhood. I want to know when our local precinct is going to respond to emergencies in a timely fashion and take things like noise complaints (believe me, if we all complained about those ridiculous car radios nonstop and if the cops actually did something about it, it would deter the derelict loitering that goes on and makes SP such an attractive spot for good-for-nothings). I want to know when the residents and the sanitation department are going to clean up our streets and our park. I love this neighborhood, but we are SERIOUSLY overlooked by our politicians and our emergency services. And it WON'T change until the people who live here start seriously complaining about it.
too much here!! sunset was hirrible beroe with all those gangs in the 90's .. it was cleaned up then and if there are more gang members now I am sure it will be over soon.. I've lived here too long
According to the lastest news I read, the two victims aren't associated with any gangs nor the 16 year old gunman. It was a murder/robbery. I feel sorry for both the victims and the gunman, their lives and our lives are all affected by this event.
" I was upset by a quote from a 42 year-old man who said he wouldn't go there anymore. How are others feeling?"
I pretty much stopped going there already because it's such a sh*thole lately. Can't bring my kids without them stopping to pick up broken glass or other garbage every two seconds. The fact that people are now getting shot there is just the icing on the cake. This park needs some serious help.
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