Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Updated 3/19: Police sources, who did not have permission to speak on the record, told us that they have identified the alleged gunman and have photos and video of him circulating internally.
Updated 3/21: The same suspected gunman fired more shorts in Tompkins.
Updated 3/26: Police made an arrest in the shooting.
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A dispute in Tompkins Square Park turned violent this afternoon as a gunman fired 5-6 shots, striking two people, including an unintended target — a woman in town visiting her son who's running the NYC Half Marathon tomorrow, police said.
According to NYPD sources in the Park, a fight broke out outside the fence to the playground near Temperance Fountain. Two men were said to be hitting a third man. Police said the victim had a gun in a crossbody bag. He took 5-6 shots, striking two people. At least one, a 53-year-old woman visiting from Illinois, was an unintended victim, police said.
The woman was hit in the hip by a bullet and was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, where she is expected to survive. Her son was at the scene looking for his mom before the NYPD transported him to the hospital.
A 31-year-old man was hit in the buttocks. His injury was also not considered life-threatening. It's not immediately known if he was one of the men involved in the initial dispute.
The NYPD has blocked off the entrance on Avenue A at Ninth Street ... and put up crime scene tape, keeping people from heading in that direction from Temperance Fountain. Police were continuing to search for the shell casings.
A detective at the scene said the nearby cameras in Tompkins were not operating, so there wasn't any surveillance video from the shooting.
The gunman is still at large as of 2:30 p.m.
The shots rang out just before 1 p.m., scattering parkgoers enjoying a sunny day in Tompkins.
Initially, we were told only a partial bullet fragment was found in the park but farther away from the scene and more toward the center of Tompkins ... however, evidence collection teams appear to have found additional material ... they were spotted removing it around 4:30 p.m. ...
Crime Stoppers is also seeking information on today's shooting...
Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.
Tompkins is now fully open, although some NCO officers may still be on patrol.
Great. Can we have some police presence in the park again? There are several children's playgrounds in there and ever since covid, it's somehow gotten worse and worse
ReplyDeleteOMG. I just went on Nextdoor to see why there was a helicopter flying over our area for the past hour. Now, I know. This is scary stuff. Hope the victims are okay.
ReplyDeleteMy friend was a witness and said it was NOT migrant-related. From the way they were dressed, looked like drug gang related.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThank you!
DeleteFunny to assume it’s migrant related. Americans love to shoot eachother
DeleteHasn't put off the mobs of daydrinkers nearby. Nobody cares.
ReplyDeleteI was there with my dog at the park. It was really really scary. Took the cops almost ten minutes to show up, in a car, which is insane as there is a precinct just around the corner.
ReplyDeleteFirst off I was in the basketball courts when this went down, the “Precinct around the block you are referring to is PSA4. They are assigned to housing developments in the 1precinct, 5 pct, 7 pct, 9 pct, 10 pct and 13 pct. So they are not always around. Patrol cars did arrive in under 3 minutes.
DeleteAn episode of 'Law and Order' I first thought. Then, I realized it was the real thing. The NYPD don't take up as much parking as the television people.
ReplyDeleteMillions wasted on the theatre of State Troopers standing in the subways, whilst a location known for crime of various sorts doesn’t have functioning cameras!
ReplyDeleteI live in the EV and was a block away when this happened. I’m furious. Mad at the criminals, at our mayor and somewhat at the police (for being slow). Our mayor just this week proudly boasted that we/NYC are Port-au-Prince Haiti….. what is he trying to say? We are run by crooked dictators and violent gangs? While sympathetic to the innocent people of Haiti, I am offended by his comparison. Or does he envision NYC devolving into a third-world crime controlled city?
ReplyDeleteAnd I don’t want to hear him blame anti-Latino crime on mental illness rather than acknowledging that there is racism and xenophobia towards our Latino neighbors (US citizens as well as migrants).
And lastly, as it relates to the St Bridgids campus, the migrants have changed. Where are they from ?
Totally agree! Then, WHO in their right mind would elect a COP as mayor in the first place?!! Why didn't the democrats put Jumaan (Humane) Williams on the ballot?!! Eric Adams is clearly not qualified to manage our city especially now when one considers our "choice" of presidential candidates coming this november. Absolute madness.
DeleteIt’s not Adam’s. It’s the City Council. They’ve blocked every move he has made to keep people safe.
DeleteAs has been pointed out previously there has been an open air marketplace for Tranq® etc in that exact area for ages, predating the arrival of the asylum seekers for sure.
ReplyDeleteThere were a ton of police walking through stuytown. Assuming it was related now. Very scary
ReplyDeleteFYI there were two uniformed officers standing at St. Mark's and Ave A next to the park entrance yesterday evening when I passed by. I do think there has been more police presence lately, but cops cannot arrest someone for what they might do in the future....
ReplyDeleteI've never felt unsafe sitting on a bench in the park but I will now avoid it since my health insurance doesn't cover gun shot wounds.
ReplyDeleteYou have health insurance that doesn’t cover gun shot wounds?
DeleteI imagine you would be as safe sitting on a bench in the park as you would in most other public places.
DeleteNowadays you are lucky if health insurance covers aspirin!!!
DeleteA heartening moment was how quickly people came to help. First a few and then a relatively large number, considering how unnerving the whole thing was.
ReplyDeleteWhy are cops SO SLOW to respond? TEN MINUTES to respond to a shooting? This is not isolated — look at EVG coverage and comments back when the lady (called Superstar?) who went on a rampage starting at 7th St Burger and not ending until the cops came TWENTY minutes or so later? WHY SO SLOW this is INSANITY.
ReplyDeleteIt is true, as Christopher says, that the police cannot arrest people for "what they might do in the future." That's why stop-and-frisk should be reinstated. Instead of the useless political theater that puts the National Guard in subways checking random bags, how about letting the police check the obvious drug-dealers that pervade the park? Look folks, we can't have it both ways. The liberal mindset refuses to acknowledge that there really are bad people who don't give a s*** about public safety, or about who they hurt in the pursuit of drug dealing and other types of malfeasance. No amount of empathy or social work outreach is going to change that. We can make up our collective mind to protect ordinary citizens who aren't drug-dealing and who don't carry drugs and knives and who care about their communities. Or we can continue to do what we're doing--pandering to a dangerously naive social justice mindset that refuses to take action against manifestly dangerous people. I'm convinced that the more divorced-from-reality staunch liberal ideologues are impacted by the reality of random violent crime, the more they will be forced to acknowledge that law and order is absolutely necessary and ultimately benefits everyone.
ReplyDeleteThis. ^^^
DeleteWe already tried this approach and unfortunately it let to a long laundry list of constitutional and civil rights violations, as well as a power hungry and unaccountable police department. Conservatives, single and simple minded as they are these days, seem to forget that. Any resurrection of Stop and Frisk or similar policies needs to have much greater oversight to prevent being overturned in court. Right wingers are too incompetent to be trusted to implement it. So who can we trust?
DeleteThis is a well-articulated argument in favor of an
Deleteoverdue dose of sanity and reality. If we must choose the lesser of two evils, let’s err on the side of the approach that might keep bullets from tearing through a playground area on a sunny weekend afternoon. Terrible as this was, we could easily be talking about two children being wounded or worse. Adult hips and buttocks are about the same height as a child’s head. Any child who was there today (as my own often were, just a handful of years ago) will surely be traumatized. As for the non-working security cameras, it will be interesting to learn if and when they were reported as malfunctioning, and how much some firm is being paid to operate and maintain them.
People say some crazy shit. The people to blame are those that perpetrated the crime.
ReplyDeleteTime to bring back stop and frisk
ReplyDeleteAGREED. The ones that complain on this page are the ones who elected these public officials. The same officials who demoralize law enforcement. The same officials who want to sue individual officers with no protection from the city. Officers be smart, watch over each other, because unfortunately the many that complain about police presence are the same ones that cry, “Where were the police when this happened”.
DeleteUnless the police try to be everywhere all at once, many of these crimes are not preventable at the street level. Everyone is on edge for whatever reason. More people are carrying. Conflicts will occur and they will escalate. Most police are intended to respond to incidents that already happened. It takes a whole different strategy to prevent and deter that we are not ready to implement.
ReplyDeleteYes to Stop and Frisk and also yes to the arrest of those who commit fare beating and shoplifting. It was called “broken window policing”. This will help tame the chaos. Also enforce traffic laws on scooters and motorized bikes. I have been living here for 40+ years. We did this before and guess what…..it worked!
DeleteI was thinking the other day of making up a bumper sticker with a picture of Giuliani saying
DeleteMiss me yet?
The City is spending millions on Open Streets conceived by the bicycle lobby.
ReplyDeleteThe City should end Open Streets and use the money for parks (including security) an playgrounds
And especially in underserved neighborhoods
City Council continues to restrict the Mayor and Police and live in LaLa Land. But let's face it there were alot of calls to Defund the Police since 2020 and reduce Police presence in certain neighborhoods.
DeleteBTW many NYPD assigned to St. Patrick’s Day parade today.
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday many will be assigned to half marathon
Sick of this already.
ReplyDeleteThe folks who won’t let the police do what they need to do realize, after a few years in office, that their dogma isn’t working out and want (at some repressed level) a face-saving means of exit. With November coming up, please keep this in mind. You don’t have to vote for the yellow-haired guy. Just look down-ballot and do these poor folks—and NYC—a favor.
ReplyDeleteWas a block away when the helicopter showed up. Glad not many people were hurt, a lot of people in the EV celebrating St Patty’s.
ReplyDeleteThis is very frustrating. How about getting the cameras working in the park? Start by pointing them at the areas around the playground at 9th st and A. Lots of drug activity in broad daylight in the park around that playground. Absurd. A pair of cops walking a beat around the park/area would be appreciated
ReplyDeleteStart by getting cameras in the park to work !!
DeleteUh, why would it be migrant related? Why would people who don’t have a place to live or money for food have guns?
ReplyDeleteCameras weren't working because the lights are on during the day?
ReplyDeleteThat is the crazy thing. This is a known drug market and the cameras aren’t working? How about, instead of stop and frisk cops get out of their cars and walk around Tompkins. That may already stop some of the drug trading
DeleteThe city can’t even afford to clean the park on a daily basis. How in the world can it afford CCTV for Tompkins? Fat chance. This is just wishful thinking. This incident reiterates to never let one’s guard down. Our new normal. Duck and cover on the subways and on the ground.
ReplyDeleteScary. After I asked a cop I figured out I had just sat down on a bench in the center of the park. A distance from the fountain but bullets don't stop. That this happened right by the children's area is extra disturbing.
ReplyDeleteA few EVGrieve-centric responses and comments:
Who is the poster who comes in to every thread to complain about the "bicycle lobby". Believe me if we had any real power you'd know (and be weeping on 9th street over lack of free parking). I'd say stop thread jacking to complain when it's not relevant but I'm not the (deep voice) Blog Master.
There's been daylight dealing by the fountain for a while now. As I ... cough ... look the part I get approached. Sorry pal it's a health issue not a hard drug problem. That's a problem not for uniformed police but undercovers. Hey Carlina make those phone calls. A few busts and they'll move, hopefully to a street corner far far away (when they are released immediately sigh)
Stop and frisk was problematic especially because then Mayor Bloomberg did not specify omitting low level marijuana busts leading to kids in Rikers for nickel bags of what should have been and is now entirely legal. And structurally problematic as there has long been little community connection with the NYPD in many neighborhoods, a far larger issue. Again, undercovers are the solution, not rousting not-yuppie not-"white" twenty somethings who aren't day drinking with fellow off work tech yuppies (do we still use that word?) and may look a little rough around the edges. Who among us doesn't look a little rough around the edges - show of hands please.
"And I swear that I don't have a gun
No, I don't have a gun
No, I don't have a gun"
Thanks for the great coverage Grieve. Invaluable.
I do not believe this to be migrant related whereby a migrant was responsible for the shooting or any involvement. But I have noticed a huge increase of overcrowding in the city since we have more migrants. I’ve lived in the EV for over 40 yrs. and have always frequented TSP. And yes, there has always been park and neighborhood drug issues. The difference now relates to issues of migrant overcrowding in the park, since because of legal bureaucracy, we haven’t provided satisfactory places for them to stay. I’ve recently seen masses of migrants overcrowd in Tompkins (since it’s right near St. Brigid’s) and other areas that are near migrant accommodation areas. If you’ve ever noticed overcrowding of lab or other caged animals the results are devastating. So now we’re faced with a deadly mix of general social tensions escalating between the park’s crowded population of residents, tourists, students, druggies, homeless, and now migrants. Along with rising temperatures we’re bound to see tempers fly, and unfortunately innocent people may be caught between the crossfire.
ReplyDelete"Or we can continue to do what we're doing--pandering to a dangerously naive social justice mindset that refuses to take action against manifestly dangerous people."
ReplyDeleteThose naive Founding Fathers. If only they'd known better. Of course, they had the foresight to make sure that there is an unrestricted right for everyone to carry a bazooka in the park, so we should give them *some* credit, huh?
(You people whining, have you not noticed who the mayor is? An ex-cop. Eric Adams has been bathing the cops in money and demanding that we bow down and kiss their feet as they pass, so they could at least do their damn jobs. Also, how funny is it to complain that these supposed tough, capable, street-wise cops that we need so badly have become so demoralized because they don't get to be judge, jury, and executioner on the street that they can't do what they get handsomely paid to do? The only people in the world who get to get the sads and just not bother any more at work because someone criticizes them.)
One time for the people in the back - POLICE DO NOT STOP CRIME THEY SIMPLY RESPOND TO IT AFTER IT HAS HAPPENED why are we not addressing ROOT CAUSES instead of pouring police on top of everything?! If police kept us safe we would be the safest country in the world. The police force of NYC itself is bigger than the militaries of many countries. Someone still ended up with a bullet in their *ss.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteIMO when trying to persuade others with different opinions, most useful thing is to explain your POV - and limit criticism or labeling of others. Whether here in EV Grieve or in WSR etc.
One gets more flies with honey than vinegar - right?
Thank you to EV Grieve for its coverage here and on so many other things.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me there are many contextual issues and not one easy solution.
But I do think the comments reflect that NYC becomes more and more complicated, there is accelerating stratification in NYC, and less understanding or commonality or consensus on any issue or topic.
Land use, trash, education, transportation, whatever.
It is really really depressing
Check out what is happening with Community Board 5 - coverage in The City and Crain’s
As far as working cameras, we can take the
ReplyDeleteones that have been set up for congestion
pricing. Those are brand new so they should
be in working condition.
For those who are calling out to Carlina Rivera,
oh please. She is a do-nothing just like our
current mayor.
And for those having fantasies about
Giuliani, wow. He was the worst mayor in my
60 + years living in New York.
Like an earlier poster said, the police show up after a crime has been committed. The community needs to exert pressure on the dealers, make them move. Some old-school community protesting needs to be done to let them know they aren't welcome here.
ReplyDeleteNeed Cops patrolling ! not on phones all day sitting in cars
ReplyDeleteSo, the security cameras weren't operating - what a surprise...
ReplyDeleteA few years ago there was a shooting on Avenue A across from the Park. The cameras were not working that day either. The police had to go from business to business to access cameras .
ReplyDeleteNot long after it happened, there was a huge caravan of cops and cop vehicles parked on Avenue C and 3rd st, there was at least 30-40 of them, all congregating outside of the "Earth Church" which recently has been providing help and support to migrants. I didn't know what had happened and my first thought was "I bet the NYPD is scapegoating migrants for some crime they had nothing to do with" and sure enough I hear about this shooting. The migrants at Tompkins have been a very peaceful, well behaved bunch. There's been no violence, nothing more physical than a few spirited games of soccer in the park. I really hope the NYPD isn't going to get to the stage of bulling migrants for everything that happens in the neighborhood now. Let's not forget the NYPD union endorsed Trump in 2020, so we know where their sympathies lie.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the female victim's son ran the half marathon after all? That's why she was visiting. She'd probably want him to run it and tell her all about it later. I'm praying for them, and all of us who are feeling the ripple effect of this violence in our neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteHeh - that was what I wondered myself. If I were her, given that the injury does not seem to be life-threatening, I would definitely tell my son to go run his race and come back and tell me about it afterwards.
DeleteOn March 16, 2024 at 8:54 PM Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the other day of making up a bumper sticker with a picture of Giuliani saying
Miss me yet?
It would take more than gunshots in my home park—I live about half a block away—to make me miss Julie-Annie.