Man in neon vest shoots and wounds four outside Bronx housing project; one victim clings to life

A gunman in a green neon vest shot four people on Monday, leaving one victim clinging to life, outside a Bronx housing project, police said.

The most seriously hurt victim, a 53-year-old man, was rushed by medics to Lincoln Hospital in critical condition.

Shots rang out outside the Mott Haven Houses on E. 141st St. near Willis Ave. in Mott Haven around 12:30 p.m.

“It was a lot of shots very loud in real quick — boom, boom, boom,” said Consuela Perez, 21, a check cashing teller who lives in the Mott Haven Houses. “There were two of them on the ground — a girl and a guy.

“She was shot in the arm and he was shot in the chest a number of times. They put the other two in ambulances,” she added.

The other victims — a 38-year-old man shot in the abdomen, a 41-year-old woman blasted in the right arm and a 39-year-old woman wounded in the left arm and left hip — were in serious but stable condition at the same hospital.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the shooting or who was the intended targeted.

Police said the gunman ran from the scene and has not been caught.

“This is a neighborhood where a lot of things happened, but this was broad daylight,” Perez said. “It’s terrifying. I’m scared. This could happen to anyone”

The number of people struck by gunfire citywide this year is down 16%, with 1,502 victims so far compared to 1,787 people by this time last in 2021.

Murders are down citywide by 11%, with 405 victims compared to 457 by this point last year.

Still, the crime rate— fueled in part by a 28% spike in robberies — is up 25% for the year.