‘We Saw People Dropping’: How a Brooklyn Rite of Summer Ended in Bloodshed

Investigators said several of the victims — who ranged in age from 21 to 55 — had gang ties, including Mr. Pagan, who they believe was a member of the Bloods. He was released on parole in January after he was caught with a .40-caliber handgun in 2016, and law enforcement officials said he was a suspect in a previous shooting.

“There’s a lot of information coming in, but it’s still very preliminary,” Dermot F. Shea, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, said on Monday.

A list of the victims’ injuries provided by the police suggested a worse tragedy was narrowly averted. Two of the surviving victims were shot in the head and six were struck in the torso, according to the list.

One of the bullets hit Daniesa Murdaugh in the back as she fled. Doctors told her they believed that somehow the slug had lost enough velocity — perhaps after ricocheting off her bra strap — to prevent it from entering her body, she said. “It terrifies me,” said Ms. Murdaugh, 21.

The bullet that hit Mr. Davis missed his spine by inches. He said police officers who put pressure on his wound saved his life.

The gunfire shattered a normally peaceful homecoming for current and former residents of Brownsville. It came a little more than a day before a young white supremacist opened fire at a garlic festival in California, killing three people. Many New Yorkers drew a comparison between the two attacks, though Mayor Bill de Blasio resisted calling the one in Brooklyn a mass shooting, saying “that phrase is usually reserved for a different type of situation.”

The mayor’s comment drew scorn from community leaders and elected Democrats in Brooklyn, some of whom said the mayor was downplaying its gravity because of his presidential aspirations. “I think that’s a political liability for him,” said Assemblyman Charles Barron, a Brooklyn Democrat.

Source: The New York Times

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Brooklyn • Detective • Gang • Paganism • Bloods • Parole • .40 S&W • Handgun • Law enforcement agency • Suspect • Police • Torso • Slug • Velocity • Bra • Human body • Bullet • Vertebral column • Pressure • Homecoming • Brownsville, Texas • White supremacy • California • New York City • Bill de Blasio • Brooklyn • 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting • Mayor of New York City • United States presidential election, 2008 • Democratic Party (United States) • Brooklyn • Mayor of New York City • President of the United States • New York State Assembly • Charles Barron • Brooklyn • Democratic Party (United States) •