15-year-old charter school student dies after shooting in Downtown Brooklyn park
NEW YORK -- A teenage student died Wednesday after he was shot after school in Brooklyn.
Police are still looking for the two teenage suspects who they say ran away after shooting that 15-year-old boy.
As CBS2's Ali Bauman reports, a backpack sits at the center of the crime scene in McLaughlin Park.
At 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, people all around the neighborhood heard one loud gunshot.
"I heard like a big boom noise. It was an echo noise," witness Shaquanna Thompson said.
"Just a loud pop," student Myron Mitchell said.
Dee Thomas followed the sound as teenagers were running away.
"We walked over here to see what was going on, and it was actually, he was laying on the ground," Thomas said.
Police say the victim was a 15-year-old student at Brooklyn Lab Charter School just two blocks away. When school let out for a half-day, the victim walked to the park and sat on a bench with two girls around the same age.
Then, police say, two school-age boys came over wearing ski masks and began arguing with the victim. That turned into a fist fight, then one of the suspects pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the abdomen.
"We're gonna go back to school, look at school, talk to people at school, see if there was any argument at school during the day," NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
"It's shocking. I mean, it's a school park, so I didn't think it'd be kids getting attacked," Thompson said.
Dr. Garland Thomas-McDavid, CEO of Brooklyn Lab Charter School, released a statement saying part:
"Unfortunately, many of our students are far too familiar with the rise in violence in our community. To support our students and teammates as they process this event, Brooklyn Lab will provide on-campus professional counseling beginning tomorrow, in addition to the school social workers who are on our campus every day. We are also in contact with the local police commander and community partners to request increased police presence at dismissal and conflict resolution support for our community. As always, we will prioritize the safety and well-being of each individual in our school community as we navigate the days ahead. We continue to be confident in our ability to help our students learn and keep them safe while attending our school."
"It's always a concern, the return to school. We see the shooting victims, the shooting perpetrators, younger and younger, and it's a grave concern to us," Essig said.
The latest NYPD data shows shootings are down 12% citywide compared to this time last year, but numbers are little comfort to the dozens of students who had to witness this tragedy.
"Yeah, that makes me feel a little uneasy 'cause it's not always safe as we think it is, so I definitely will have my eyes open a little more," Thomas said.
Essig also said as students are now returning to school, each precinct in the city has a robust safety plan for students, especially to deal with dismissal.
Detectives believe more than 30 kids were inside the park when it happened, and they're asking anyone who knows the suspects to come forward.
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.
