Photos: The Scene Outside – Hunt For Maksim Gelman

I just got back from roaming around the crime scene area of East 24th Street and Avenue Y.

The avenue, from East 19th to East 26th, was lined with police cars when I arrived, most awaiting orders for positioning around the neighborhood. The area is serving as the base of operations for the citywide response to the hunt for Maksim Gelman.

In the photo above, crime scene units are suited up to comb East 24th Street, where Gelman killed his girlfriend and her mother at around 4:30 p.m. today. All of East 23th remains closed from Avenue U to Avenue Y, as Gelman headed north after the slaying, and then slashed and carjacked another victim at Avenue U.

Here you can see how the cars lined up:

As I approached the scene, large units of officers returned to their cars to scatter throughout the neighborhood:

Officers from every corner of the five boroughs and every kind of unit converged on Sheepshead Bay. There were Counter-Terrorism units, with mounted license plate readers, K-9 units, and heavily armed response teams on the scene.

During a drive around, I saw every major intersection had a police car stationed – often with the license plate readers. Other cars slowly patrolled side streets, checking parked cars as they went. The police kept their lights off to avoid obvious detection from the suspect.

As of this moment, the perp remains on the lam, and it appears the units have redeployed around the neighborhood, changing the focus of their search as they go.

We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.