Four People Shot, Two Dead In Two Shootings

CONEY ISLAND/CYPRESS HILL – Two men are dead and two are injured in two shooting incidents that took place in a span of four hours.

First, on Tuesday, September 29 at around 10:15 p.m., 36-year-old Roderick Smith was found with a gunshot wound to his head and left shoulder on Highland Boulevard near Sunnyside Avenue, the NYPD said. Smith, a Starrett City resident, was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he died from his injuries.

Then at around 2 a.m. this morning, three men were shot on West 16th Street between Neptune Avenue and Hart Place. According to the NYPD, a 25-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to his chest, a 37-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the butt and right ankle, and a 26-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to his right forearm. The 25-year-old was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn and was pronounced dead. His name has not yet been released. The latter two were taken to NYC Health & Hospitals/Coney Island and are in stable condition.

This year so far has brought 127 murders in Brooklyn, compared to the 78 murders last year, police data shows. The number of shooting incidents in the borough has more than doubled, with 501 this year, compared to the 227 in 2019. The number of shooting victims has also more than doubled, with 621 this year.

As of now, no arrests have been made for either incident and the investigations are ongoing.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).  The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.