A day after a mass shooting left three people dead and 11 injured in a Crown Heights lounge, local advocates and elected officials mourned the victims — and urged the community not to lose hope in the fight against gun violence.
“We gather here today not by choice and not because the work of the New York City Crisis Management System is not being done,” said Camara Jackson, founder and CEO of nonprofit Elite Learners. “We gather here today by force. We gather here today because acts of senseless gun violence have shattered our community, and we demand a response.”
Police believe the Aug. 17 shooting inside Taste of the City lounge was gang-related. Two of the men killed — Marvin St. Louis and Jamel Childs — have since been identified as the shooters who started the bloodshed. Childs was believed to be a member of the Folk Nation gang, as were three other victims, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Monday.
But the third person killed, 27-year-old Amadou Diallo, was not involved, nor were the other injured victims.
At the Aug. 18 vigil, Attorney General Letitia James held the shoulders of one of Diallo’s family members as he cried.
“I’ve known this pain and the suffering and the tears, countless families all throughout this city and all throughout this state,” James said. “I pray for the three who we’ve lost, and I pray for the recovery of the 14. And I pray that this incident will not define this community.”
Jackson said volunteers with Elite Learners, which is part of the city’s Crisis Management System, have spent hours “tirelessly canvassing” the area, working to meet community members and prevent violence before it happens and without police intervention. Violent crime in the area is down significantly thanks in part to the work of Elite Learners and other Crisis Management System teams, Jackson said.
But they can’t be out seven days a week.
“When it happens on a Sunday and a Monday … it hurts a little bit harder, because you know that your schedule did not permit you to canvas some of those areas [where] we spend a lot of time mediating conflict, talking to community members, providing support services,” she said.
So far this year, New York City has seen record-low levels of gun violence. As of Aug. 17, shootings in the 71st Precinct — where Sunday’s shooting occurred — were down 50% year-over-year.
Still, the city has seen at least three mass-shooting incidents. In January, a shooting at a Queens nightclub left ten people injured. Last month, a gunman killed four people — and himself – in an attack on a Manhattan office building.
“No one could imagine or even envision that there would be another tragedy like this in Brooklyn,” said Mitchell Mann, founder of Man Up, another CMS partner. “This particular shooting surpasses all of those, and unfortunately we’re dealing with more of our community members who lost their lives.”
But Mann urged locals not to be discouraged. The incident did not “spoil” the work being done by the Crisis Management System isn’t working, he said.
“Do not let anybody tell you that the work that we all have been doing is not working,” Mann said.
Jackson said CMS members would be back on the streets “with double the resources and double the commitment” — but indicated that the program needs additional funding.
“We need the support of our community members. We need the support of our city, state and local officials,” she said. “We need the leaders to stay encouraged to continue to do the work. Because when incidents like this happen, they not only break the communities, they break the leaders that put in the work.”
Hours after the shooting, Mayor Eric Adams said the city would deploy cops, faith leaders, and the Crisis Management Team to the area in an effort to prevent retaliatory shootings.
“Listen, what happened in the Taste of the City is not a reflection of our city,” Adams said at the vigil. “And we need to be clear on that. Because when you have the operation that’s done in combination with the NYPD, our crisis management teams of bringing down shootings, removing 23,000 guns off our streets, investing in young people, you have an incident like this at the Taste of the City, you begin to believe it’s a reflection of our city. And it is not. It is not.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said the shooting was “an anomaly” in a very safe year.
“Let us not forget the safety that exists in Brooklyn and have the perspective to continue to love, be joyful amongst tragedy here in Brooklyn,” he said.
