17-year-old girl fatally shot by suspects riding scooter in Brooklyn as NYPD investigates rash of moped-involved crimes
NEW YORK -- A 17-year-old girl was shot and killed in Brooklyn on Wednesday, and police say the suspects took off on a scooter.
Police say the victim was standing with a group of teenagers outside a building on Eastern Parkway when two suspects riding on a scooter started shooting.
According to police, eight shots were fired, one striking the 17-year-old in the face.
Investigators believe she was not the intended target. No one else was injured, and no arrests have been made.
This comes as the NYPD reveals they are actively investigating over a dozen robbery patterns across the city involving mopeds or similar scooters.
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CBS2's Tim McNicholas spoke to one victim, who asked not to be identified because she's afraid the suspect who robbed her will find her and hurt her again.
She says a suspect on a moped snatched her purse, dragging her down the sidewalk at a Crown Heights intersection over the summer. She suffered some scrapes and says her knee was bruised and swollen.
"But really what's worse is I lost my peace of mind, my sense of safety," she said. "I'm still very paranoid."
She's not alone.
Video from June shows another moped mugging in Brooklyn. There was another in July in Queens and an attempted robbery on the Upper East Side in August.
"The scooter robbery patterns we have throughout the city, I think last count it was up to 16, 17 different patterns," NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
Essig says the suspects' scooters, which often have no plates or the wrong plates, zip by pedestrians on sidewalks.
"It's a very difficult stop for patrols, if you're in a car, to stop one of these scooters. If anybody's seen them riding up and around, it's a very difficult task to do, and that's why the perpetrators are using them," Essig said.
RELATED STORY: NYPD investigating following yet another mugging by someone on a moped
It's not just robberies.
Police say a man on a moped inappropriately touched women at seven different locations in Brooklyn recently, and Sunday, officers say a person on a moped shot a 75-year-old man in the leg in the West Farms section of the Bronx.
Many mopeds are legal in New York but require registration
The NYPD says they're confiscating illegal mopeds to grapple with the problem.