By Alexandra Cheney
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL HARLEM — A man was shot in the face while sitting in a car on a busy Harlem street in an apparent drive-by shooting Monday afternoon, police said.
Police said the victim, who they did not identify, was transported to Harlem Hospital in stable condition. Witnesses reported hearing a series of gunshots and screeching tires at the scene of the incident, on the east side of Lenox Avenue near 129th Street, around 2 p.m.
One witness said he saw the shooter fired multiple rounds from the backseat of a passing vehicle.
The witness, who lives around the corner from where the incident occurred but declined to provide his name for fear of retribution, said the victim was sitting in the driver’s seat with his wife next to him when the gunfire erupted.
He added that the victim was doing laundry at the cleaners the car was parked next to on Lenox Ave.
“The guy was washing his clothes, and he was just some random guy,” the witness added. “His wife was covered in spatters [of] blood. She was sitting in the passenger seat.”
The witness said he ran over to help the victim but noted the man walked to a responding ambulance on his own.
Another witness, whose apartment overlooks the street where the shooting occurred, said the incident caught him by surprise.
“When I first moved in there were a lot of shootings, but there’s been a lull for the past one-and-a-half years,” said Michael Wallack, 41. “It’s unusual for something like this to happen during the day.”
