A 1-year-old boy was shot and killed on Sunday night after two men opened fire on a Brooklyn cookout.
According to the New York Times, the incident occurred in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood around 11:30 pm. Baby Davell Gardner was in his stroller near the Raymond Bush Playground when two men approached the group and opened fire.
“This is so painful,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday. “It’s not something we can ever look away from.”
Davell was struck in the stomach and taken to a local hospital, where he died. Three other men were also injured in the incident; A 25-year-old man was hit in the ankle, a 36-year-old man was struck in the leg, and a 27-year-old man was shot in the groin. All are expected to survive.
As of July 5, according to the publication, there have been 585 shootings in New York City, showing a sharp increase from last year’s 381.
“The N.Y.P.D has been overloaded in so many ways, and it just keeps adding up,” de Blasio said, adding that he believed the rise in gun violence is due to the “horrible dislocation” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In separate incidents on Sunday night, a 12 and 15-year-old were also injured in shootings in the city. The 15-year-old was hit in the wrist on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Manhattan. The 12-year-old was shot in the leg on Prospect Place in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn.
