A New York City cookout ended in tragedy Sunday, and police are searching for answers after a 1-year-old was killed in a shooting.
The child, identified by police as Davell Gardner, was shot in the abdomen and taken the hospital police told USA TODAY. He was then taken to a second hospital, where he died.
Two men – one wearing all black, the other wearing black and white – opened fire at the Brooklyn cookout at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to police. Both men had their faces covered and left the scene on foot.
Four people were injured in the shooting, including Davell according to the NYPD. A 36-year-old man was shot in the leg, a 35-year-old man was shot in the groin and a 27-year-old man, who walked to the hospital, was shot in the ankle.
NYPD Chief of Community Affairs Jeffrey Maddrey called on the police and the community to denounce the “disgusting” violence that took place Sunday.
A one year old child is dead. The baby was with his family enjoying a Sunday night in the Summer when someone started shooting . Three people were injured and the baby was killed. This. Must.STOP! We as a community, we as a police department denounce this disgusting violence. pic.twitter.com/R66DVO6cTA
— Chief Jeffrey Maddrey (@NYPDCommAffairs) July 13, 2020
“The baby was with his family enjoying a Sunday night in the summer when someone started shooting,” Maddrey tweeted Monday morning. “Three people were injured, and the baby was killed. This. Must. STOP!”
Commissioner Dermot Shea called the shooting “senseless.” A police official confirmed to USA TODAY the shooting wasn’t random.
City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the shooting during a Monday media briefing. He said the incident was “horrifying” and added he was “heartbroken” over the death of Davell. He also mentioned a separate incident where a 12-year-old was shot in the leg.
“It’s not something we can ever look away from,” he said. “It’s something we have to address and stop.”
Sunday was a particularly violent day for New York City, and two other minors, one 12 years old, the other 15 years old, were injured in separate shootings, according to the NYPD. The New York Times reported as of Sunday, there were 634 shootings in 2020 this year, up from 394 in 2019.
“This city is strong,” de Blasio said Monday. “We fought back through a lot before, we’re going to fight back again. Remember this is a day where we can’t celebrate, but we note that this city fought back from being the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, to having a 24-hour period with no deaths at all. This city has fought back from crime and violence many times before.”
Sunday afternoon, hours before the shooting, Maddrey tweeted photos from a community meeting in Harlem. Monday, de Blasio called the event “inspiring.”
“Cops and community joining together to demand a stop to the recent spike in violence,” Maddrey tweeted. “Last night we met in Harlem, neighborhood leaders, and elected officials setting aside our differences for a bigger picture of PEACE.”
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