Apparent Suicide In Belt Parkway Rest Area On Mother’s Day

A 51-year-old man was found dead yesterday in the Belt Parkway rest area near 4th Avenue, adjacent to the Verrazano Bridge, in what appears to be a suicide.

Police responded to a call of an unconscious male shortly after 3:00 p.m., turning up to find the man in a black Ford Windstar.

EMS declared the man dead on arrival, having suffered a gunshot wound to the head from a .25-caliber semi-automatic firearm, which they found on the floor of the vehicle. Authorities draped a white sheet over the car’s windshield, and used NYPD vehicles to block the view from the hundreds of joggers, cyclists and others enjoying the Shore Parkway Greenway.

Police were on scene as late as 9:30 p.m. The Medical Examiner was also on scene, and one reader tells Bensonhurst Bean that there appeared to be an NYPD Harbor Unit searching the waters around the Brooklyn tower of the Verrazano Bridge.

The Medical Examiner has not formally ruled the death to be a suicide, and an NYPD spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing.

Thanks to Bob De Thomas for the tip.