Three Teens Shot on Franklin
Let’s hope this is not indicative of what’s to come in the summer months…1010 Wins reported that three teenagers were shot and seriously wounded yesterday afternoon near the intersection of Franklin and President Streets in Crown Heights. The three teens were shot at by a gunman on the roof of a building. The shooting happened…
Let’s hope this is not indicative of what’s to come in the summer months…1010 Wins reported that three teenagers were shot and seriously wounded yesterday afternoon near the intersection of Franklin and President Streets in Crown Heights. The three teens were shot at by a gunman on the roof of a building. The shooting happened at 3:30 p.m.—just as school children were probably on their way home. Great. Update: Looks like there was also a triple-shooting on East 16th Street last night. Ugh.
3 Teens Shot from Rooftop in Crown Heights [1010 WINS] GMAP
Photo by Abeni G
riis10,
Thanks for the firsthand report and commentary. Much appreciated.
Some actual info: I live a few feet away from where the kids got shot and got home a half hour or so after the shooting. Everyone – literally everyone – on this block, knows the four kids who were targeted, and that there’s a dispute going on, quite recent, between them and some kids from Lefferts Garden. And everyone agrees that these kids, who grew up on the block, are trouble, – several people mentioned that one was arrested on a gun charge last Tuesday and released the same day, etc. (It’s odd the discussion here, as folks here, as everywhere, are very well informed and thoughtful about their neighborhood. About 1/2 the folks in the 4-5 apt buildings and 90% of the home owners grew up here – check zillow and you’ll see turnover is very low. It’s generally an incredibly nice place to live, insanely good subway stop and quite calm.)
The police are ridiculously useless. The precinct house is a half block away from where the shooting occurred. There are tons of young police walking around here all the time, avoiding any eye contact and making every effort to spend as much time on their cell phones, smoke, block the sidewalk and ignore residents as possible, as opposed to getting to know any of us. When you say good morning, they freeze and look away. Ridiculous.
Ironically, there has been a “special” (ie, expensive) heavy police presence (two vans, several cars) set up on the corner of Pres and Franklin for the last 2 weeks, oh, 20 feet from where the shooting occurred. No surprise that the media and many have framed as the usual crazy city shooting thing, instead of the total and complete failure of policing on our tax dollar that it is. Am sad for the families, as the kids who got shot were not part of the dispute but just out of school and randomly hit, and really pissed that the police do so little work, get totally off the hook and clearly could give a damn about protecting any of us, or any of the kids from the three high schools and elementary school that are here. We may as well have have no foot patrol, but actually they’re always milling around in little clusters. Doing nothing except adding to the city’s debt.
FYI, the high school used to be open for afterschool sports, even the pool was open to the public, but those programs ended a while ago, and the youth center down by the precinct got shut down a few years back too. Obviously doesn’t explain or excuse 4 bad actors stirring up a lot of trouble, or they’re getting ignored by the police, but it’s not easy growing up in the city, and it wouldn’t hurt to have more going on for teenagers in general, it would be money well spent. Have a good night all.
quote:
I don’t know many kids who’d just decide of their own initiative to got to the museum or library – they need to be introduced to the concept first, and it’s doubtful that any adult in their lives ever has done so. And, yes, they may not ever have been taught wrong from right either.
If you want to see some REALLY badly behaved kids, go hang out in Williamsburg with all the aging hipster parents and their skinny spawn. These kids are more disrespectful than any kids I know in “the hood”. If there was a direct correlation between an underprivileged childhood and gun violence, we’d be hearing a lot more gunshots.
Genius, babs. Your logic blows the mind:
(1) Kids have nothing to do once the school day ends,
(2) Therefore, they have no choice but to shoot each other.
There are literally millions of upstanding, well-behaved teenagers in this world, including the vast majority of the poor and members of “marginalized” groups, who would never harm a fly. To buy into your way of thinking is to insult all of these good kids.
Its important to note a couple of things about this shooting. First, it occurred around the corner from two huge public high schools. It was indeed a case of one teen or group of teens shooting at another group of teens. So in the anals of “boy that neighborhood is fucked up” this little factoid needs to be kept in mind.
Secondly, this neighborhood is policed by the 71st precinct which is located at New York Avenue and Empire, instead of the 77th Precinct which is responsible for the opposite side of EP. The 77th has been an impact zone in the past and has benefitted from the attention that has been paid to it as a result. The 71st tends to focus its attention more on keeping the peace between the black and hasidic communities, trying to mediate between the waring Hasidic private security patrols, and doesn’t seem to have the manpower of the 77th. It tends to concentrate its focus on the Flatbush, Nostrand, Kingston and Utica corridors instead of Franklin and Washington. If you’re looking for a cop from the 81st they will be found there. The other big focus is providing protection to the synagogues on Eastern Parkway during the sabbath and on holy days.
Thirdly, there are a lot fewer everything for kids in this neighborhood. While Bed-Stuy has always had its 1 or 2 “good” schools and it’s myriad of alternative programing (basketball leagues, drum and bugule corp, little league, boy and girl scout troops, etc) I’m hard pressed to think of any organized programing for kids other than the ones listed in the Nostrand Park post. And there certainly isn’t a public school or educational program that is highly regarded here.
So add all that up (kids+gangs+limited police+no options) and it equals “nothing good”.
I agree parents are the ones who should be primarily responsible for keeping their kids in line, but take it as a given that many kids’ parents can’t or won’t do so. That situation isn’t going to change, and here is where some sort of organized youh program needs to step in. I don’t know many kids who’d just decide of their own initiative to got to the museum or library – they need to be introduced to the concept first, and it’s doubtful that any adult in their lives ever has done so. And, yes, they may not ever have been taught wrong from right either.
No doubt these are the few rotten apples in the hood else it would be raining gun shots everyday after school is out. My point is to say there’s nothing to do after school is a valid reason / excuse to make trouble is complete bs. when one accepts that, one cant expect any better or any different. Not saying doing the right thing is easy cause it’s never easy (hence why we admire those that do it consistently) but to not know what is the right thing to do is something else and is completely unacceptable
Pretty disturbing to read folks’ reactions to 3 teens being shot…regardless of the circumstances. We most likely can expect more of the same (same being: limited opportunities for youth to engage in positive activities in their out of school –meaning after-school and summer—time with the Mayor’s plan to shut down more than 30 after-school programs, summer camps specifically for middle school youth, reduce the hours for Beacon community centers and slash the funding the the Summer Youth Employment program which last year put over 50,000 NYC youth to work.) I believe in the value of youth development and yes, youth programs, to provide positive opportunities for young people, to”hook them” by offering opportunities to do the things they like to do (even basketball) and keep them by exposing them to people, places and opportunities they never dreamed of.
“These kids were coming home from school – the problem is there’s nothing for them to do AFTER school except get into trouble.”
Nope. M4L and Snowboardqueen both have points. I and all my friends didn’t have much to ‘do’ as far as youth programs after school in the suburb I grew up in, but we found simple stuff to stay occupied, and yes, homework, chores, etc too. But I suspect there’s deeper family issues to address.