The NYPD released images of three people who are wanted for questioning in relation to last month’s fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy at a park in Brooklyn, New York.
Davell Gardner was sitting in his stroller at a cookout party near the Raymond Bush Playground in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood when several men started firing shots toward the party on July 12, authorities said.
Davell was caught in the gunfire and hit once in the stomach. The baby boy was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition and pronounced dead a short time later.
Police said that a reward of up to $10,000 is offered by NYPD Crime Stoppers for information that leads to the arrests of the gunmen.
????WANTED????for a Homicide of a 1 Year old in front of 464 Madison St. #bedfordstuyvesant #brooklyn @NYPD79Pct on 7/12/20 at 11:30 PM ????Reward up to $10,000????Seen them? Know who they are?☎️Call 1-800-577-TIPS or DM us!????Calls are CONFIDENTIAL! #YourCityYourCall @NY1 @News12BK pic.twitter.com/yJ88X7J0Lh
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 17, 2020
NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison also posted a surveillance video on Twitter showing the moment two unidentified men fired multiple shots toward the cookout party, hitting 1-year-old Davell.
Harrison said the shooting happened around 11 p.m. on Madison Avenue and also wounded three other people attending the barbecue. “Two unknown perpetrators discharged numerous rounds striking four victims,” the police chief stated.
The three unidentified victims were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. A 25-year-old man was reportedly shot in the ankle, a 36-year-old man in the leg, and a 27-year-old man in the groin, police said.
On July 12,2020, at approximately 11:00 P.M., in the vicinity of 464 Madison Avenue in the confines of the 79 precinct, two unknown perpetrators discharged numerous rounds striking four victims. One of those victims was 1-year-old Davell Gardner, who later died from his wounds. pic.twitter.com/Fv9h7E6YSN
— Chief Rodney Harrison (@NYPDDetectives) July 14, 2020
NYPD Chief of Community Affairs Jeffrey Maddrey denounced the shooting, writing on Twitter: “As a community, we as a police department denounce this disgusting violence.”
A GoFundMe page for Davell said the family needs “answers and they need it now.” The fundraiser has raised nearly $28,000 since it was launched in mid-July.
The July shooting death of Davell happened amid an uptick in gun violence in New York compared to the same month last year.
“In the beginning of the year, we saw an uptick in crime and shootings. We saw some leveling off for a few months in the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Now, we’ve seen something very troubling in recent weeks,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio previously said about the increase in violent crime.
President Donald Trump issued a warning to de Blasio on Aug. 16, following a wave of gun violence in the city over the weekend that left at least seven people dead.
The president appeared to suggest that unless the mayor’s office is able to tackle the recent surge in violent crime in the city, the federal government would step in.
“Law and Order. If @NYCMayor can’t do it, we will!” Trump wrote.
Law and Order. If @NYCMayor can’t do it, we will! https://t.co/N88GX9Rkc9
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2020
Trump’s announcement came as at least 52 people were shot in the nation’s most populous metropolis in the span of 72 hours, according to ABC 7. De Blasio previously blamed the increase of shooting incidents on the number of guns on the streets and called all these cases “horrifying.”
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted via their website or on Twitter, @NYPDTips.
Epoch Times reporter Isabel van Brugen contributed to this report.
