In the last four weeks, gunfire has not been an uncommon sound in Canarsie.
Over the past month, police from the 69th Precinct have responded to four shootings that have left one person dead and six people wounded.
Yet despite that alarming number, shootings in the command are actually down says Captain Milt Marmara, the commanding officer of Canarsie’s 69th Precinct.
“At the same time last year, we had five shootings,” Marmara said, adding that, so far, none of the shootings have been connected.
“Every time something like this happens, we take a look at who’s being shot,” he said. “We want to see if there is anything in common, if one of the shootings is a retaliation to another one.”
Police said that the last shooting, which led to an area resident’s death, took place on July 3 near the corner of East 80th Street and Glenwood Road.
The victim, identified as Lacene Brim, was found shot numerous times in the neck and chest just after 12:30 a.m. He died at the scene.
As of this writing, investigators were still trying to find the shooter and are investigating several leads. The incident wasn’t a random act of violence, police said.
Recounting the last four weeks of bloodshed, police said that on the night of June 26, a man was rushed to the hospital after he was shot on East 103rd Street.
A week earlier, three people −− including a seven−month−old pregnant woman −− were wounded in two separate shootings.
Police said that two men were wounded at about 5 a.m. on June 20 following a gunfight outside the Mystique Nightclub near the corner of Ralph Avenue and East 79th Street. Marmara said that everyone involved in that shooting was arrested.
Several hours later, gunshots rang out again, this time in the basement of a building on East 88th Street.
Cops said that a gunman’s bullet went through a man and traversed the pregnant woman’s stomach, but didn’t penetrate her womb.
Neither the woman nor her baby were seriously wounded, officials said.
Investigators are still looking for the shooter, who could be involved in the local drug trade.
Officials said that there have been 11 shootings, two of them fatal, so far this year. Fifteen people have been hit by gunfire.
Marmara said that the best way to stop the rise of shootings in the command is to increase gun arrests −− something he claimed that his officers are already doing.
“Less guns on the streets means less shootings,” he said, adding that his officers have received “extra help” from NYPD specialized units in his quest to take as many firearms from the streets of Canarsie.
Although he would not go into specifics, Marmara said that gun arrests “are up this year.”
Anyone with information regarding guns in the neighborhood can call either the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at 1−800−577−TIPS or 1−800−GUNSTOP, where tipsters can receive a reward for information that would lead to a gun seizure.
