CONCOURSE — A man was shot and killed near Yankee Stadium Thursday afternoon, officials said.
Earl Terrell Tisdale, 26, was shot in the torso at East 157th Street and Gerard Avenue at about 3:20 p.m., according to the FDNY and police.
Mary Fernandez, 46, was working inside of Ana's Unisex Salon on Gerard Avenue when she heard three gunshots.
She looked out the window and saw a Tisdale lying on the ground, bleeding from his chest.
"I was scared," Fernandez said in Spanish. "This always happens — lots of gunshots. I'm not used to it, but there's nothing I can do."
Vincent Santiago, 24, and his brother Eric Cruz had been hanging on the street with Tisdale in front of the salon just moments before the shooting. Santiago went to a nearby bodega to use the bathroom and heard the gunshot when he came out.
"I seen a cop racing up the hill," Santiago said. "It was so fast. It took me no more than two minutes."
Cruz, was just a few feet away from Tisdale but had turned his head and didn't see the gunman.
"I heard a pop sound, like a fire cracker," Cruz said. "He just fainted. Completely dropped,.. He was breathing slow."
Tisdale was taken to Lincoln Hospital.
There was no immediate information on a suspect or suspects.
Neighbors young and old remembered Tisdale, whom many knew as "Rell", as a friendly, respectful guy who helped older women carry grocery bags and flattered girls on their outfits or hairstyle.
"He always complimented me every time he'd see me," said Jasmine Lewis, 18, who said she knew Tisdale since she was four years old. "He was like my brother."
Friends of Tisdale said his mother died of cancer several months ago and he was having a hard time.
"When his mom passed away he started giving up," Santiago said. "He said he had nothing to lose."
Others were concerned that he had fallen in with a bad crowd.
"He was a good kid...[but] he was a troubled kid. He was very secluded," said Addie Guzman, 28, who's lived across the hall from Tisdale for almost two decades.
After police took down the crime tape on Thursday, ladies from the hair salon sloshed buckets of water out onto the sidewalk washing away the Tisdale's blood.
Friends and neighbors gathered around a hollow vestibule near where he was gunned down to build a shrine for him.
Two women lined the ledge with white and red candles.
"It hurts. All this senseless killing for no reason," said Shakia Davis, 28, who met Tisdale four years ago when she moved to the neighborhood. "He was a good person. I never seen him in no trouble."
Another man, with teary eyes, emptied six bottles of rose sparkling wine across the sidewalk.
"We need another case," he shouted to friends down the block. "Get a gallon of Patron, my man don't drink that regular s***... [get] the most expensive stuff in there."
