Shooting death of 15-year-old charter school student in Brooklyn park leaves fellow students, neighbors rattled
NEW YORK - Police are still searching for the suspects involved in a shooting that killed a 15-year-old student in a Downtown Brooklyn park.
CBS2's Natalie Duddridge spoke to classmates Thursday morning.
"This could happen to anybody, any one of my friends," a student named Alex told Duddridge.
Alex and fellow students were on edge heading back to class at Brooklyn Lab Charter School after a 15-year-old from their school was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon.
"I feel really bad about that. I want to do something nice for my school. Honestly. I kind of want to make it feel more like a community at our school after this," Alex said.
At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, classes dismissed early. The 15-year-old went to a park two blocks away at Tillery and Jay Streets. He was sitting on a bench at 1:45 p.m. with two girls, when police say two young men wearing ski masks came over. They got into an argument, then a fist fight, and at least one shot was fired.
"My best friend said she had her arms around the kid. They were fighting and then one of the kids pulled out a gun and shot him right there. A teacher run over, gave him heart resuscitation, and then gave him mouth-to-mouth CPR," Alex said.
The 15-year-old was rushed to New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police say the suspects took off running. It's unclear if they had a prior relationship with the victim.
"For that to happen, very devastating," said Aldrich Rodridgues. "My condolences to the parents. It's upsetting."
Police say there were 30 people in the park at the time of the shooting that happened right next to a playground.
One student said she now feels unsafe.
"Seen people carrying guns, and people have knives and stuff like that," the student said.
The charter school requested increased police presence at dismissal and said in a statement, "Unfortunately, many of our students are far too familiar with the rise in violence in our community."
"It's always a concern returning to school. We see the shooting victims, the shooting perpetrators younger and younger, and it's a grave concern to us," said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.
A memorial has been set up for the 15-year-old outside of his home.
Police are asking any witnesses to come forward. They are also interviewing the two girls who were with him when the shooting happened.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.