The police are paying closer attention to the Sheepshead/Nostrand Houses.
Just two weeks after a day of violence where two shootings and a stabbing occurred, the NYPD has placed a mobile command center outside the housing project bordered by Nostrand Avenue and Bragg Street and Avenue X and Avenue V.
Captain George Mastrokostas, the commanding officer of the 61st Precinct, said that the mobile command is a base of operations for “various operations” being held inside the housing project.
“It’s also there to help prevent any violence,” Mastrokostas explained, adding that the mobile command center has been at several locations outside the housing project over the last two weeks.
As this paper went to press, the mobile command could be found at the corner of Nostrand Avenue and Avenue W.
Cops are hoping that the extra police presence will curb a repeat of May 24, in which three people were felled during two separate shootings. A man was also stabbed in the uproar following the second shooting, officials said.
Police said that the bloodshed began just after 3:30 p.m. when a 17-year-old Sheepshead Bay High School student was shot in the back as she approached her apartment building.
Witnesses told police that the woman was running toward the lobby of 3023 Avenue X near Batchelder Street when two black males in their 20s opened fire.
The teen was hit once and rushed to Kings County Hospital where she was listed in stable condition. The two gunmen ran off.
Several hours later, gunfire erupted once again at the Sheepshead/Nostrand Houses, this time during a party in front of a building on Avenue W near Nostrand Avenue on the other side of the complex.
Cops were told that everyone was having a good time just before 10:30 p.m. when gunfire shattered the jovial mood.
Everyone scattered, but a 17-year-old soon discovered that he had been shot in the leg. A 26-year-old male had also been shot in the foot.
Sometime during the fray, someone stabbed an 18-year-old in the torso during a skirmish behind the same Avenue W building, officials said.
All three victims were taken to Kings County Hospital, where they were expected to recover from their injuries.
It was unclear if the 10:30 p.m. shooting was connected to the earlier attack, officials said.
Mastrokostas said that investigators have identified a suspect in one of the shootings. Cops were still looking for the second shooter.
Despite the recent violence, Mastrokostas said that there have only been three shootings in the Sheepshead/Nostrand Houses all year.
Cops are asking anyone with information regarding these incidents to come forward.
Calls can be made to the 61st Precinct at (718) 627-6611 or the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
