A dozen shots, two killed in a bloody night in New York: police

Police said on Saturday that a dozen people were shot and killed in five districts during a bloody 15 hours.

Six people were shot dead in the Bronx, four in Brooklyn, one in Manhattan and one in Queens in six separate incidents between 2:30 pm Friday and 5 am Saturday, when a 27-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the head outside a Dominican restaurant on White -Plains Road in Parkchester, the police said.

The bloodshed began in the Bronx Friday afternoon when an armed shooter fired bullets outside the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen on East Tremont Avenue and Hughes Avenue in Tremont around 2:30 p.m., police said.

Four people were hit by bullets, including 24-year-old Jeremiah Smith, who was fatally shot in the chest. He later died at St. Barnabas’ Hospital.

Police said a 37-year-old man, also shot dead near Popeye, was in critical condition Saturday in St. Warnabas with a gunshot wound to the chest. Two other men, aged 58 and 36, were injured in the ankle and buttocks and were treated and released.

“The fight was outside the store. There were at least four shots, maybe more,” Abdurkhan Shabbir, a 28-year-old Popeyes clerk, told Daily News. “One man lay on the ground shot and bleeding. Another guy ran into the store holding his back and said he had been shot.”

Police officers took 51-year-old Salvatore Rivera into custody at the scene, later charging him with murder, manslaughter, assault and possession of a weapon.

Video from the scene obtained by the Daily News clearly showed that Rivera was a lone shooter. A second man, who appears to be armed, also appears in the video, but it is not clear if he fired any shots.

Rivera’s indictment in the Bronx Criminal Court was expected on Saturday.

About two and a half hours later, four more people were injured in a drive-by shooting on Coney Island, police said.

The victims were standing outside the High Moon smoke shop on Mermaid Avenue near 33rd Street W. just before 5:00 pm, when someone from a passing maroon minivan began firing at them.

“The car stopped in front of the store and they started shooting,” said Zulkarnian Ali, who works at a grocery store next to a tobacco shop. “The shooting went quickly. Too many shots to count. One guy ran into our store and fell to the floor. A group of them rushed across and into the rear lot. They fled and were afraid.

In a panic, the bystanders dragged the wounded into two stores to take cover as the minibus sped away.

The victims were between 17 and 25 years old, police said. Three of them were wounded in the leg, and the youngest was wounded in the chest. They were all taken to district hospitals and were expected to survive.

According to a police source familiar with the case, at least one of the four victims was the intended target.

Rashawn Thompson, the oldest victim’s brother, whom he identified as Rahmel, said his brother had nothing to do with the bloodshed.

“He was just hanging out with his friends,” Thompson, 27, said. “He was standing in front of the store. They drove up and started firing from the car.”

No arrests were made.

As night fell, two other men, one in the Bronx and one in Manhattan, were shot, but not fatally. Details of the shooting were not immediately released.

At 4 a.m. Saturday, a man entered Queens Hospital in Hillcrest with a gunshot wound to his leg, police said. The man was taken to the hospital, and the police were trying to find out where he was shot on Saturday.

An hour later, a 27-year-old man was shot in the head as he stood near a car on White Plains Road in Parkchester, police said. The shots were fired from a passing minivan, but it was not immediately clear whether the victim was the intended target.

An ambulance took the man to Jacobi Hospital, where he died. His name is not immediately released as the cops are looking for relatives.

No arrests were made.

Police said 11 people were injured in five incidents on Friday. Only one murder was reported.

As of Friday, 123 people have been shot in 99 incidents, down 19% from last year when 151 people were shot in 134 incidents, police said.

Police officers ended 2022 with an 11% decrease in homicides and a 17% decrease in shootings compared to 2021, police said.