NEW YORK CITY — Seven men, including a 76-year-old fiancé, were killed in five shootings during a 21-hour period over the weekend, police said.
The fatal shootings, spread out over three boroughs, began Saturday at 5:41 p.m. and continued through Sunday at 2:49 p.m., according to NYPD officials.
Three men, including the groom-to-be, were outside the Ingersoll Houses at 58 Fleet Walk, near Prince Street, about 1:47 a.m., when they were targeted in what sources described as a drug-related dispute.
Herbert Brown, 76, who lived there with his fiancée, was hit in the stomach and pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital, police said.
Calvin Clinkscales, 43, of South Jamaica, was hit in the head and torso and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Lacount "Kojack" Simmons, 39, who lived in the Ingersoll Houses, was hit in the back and torso and also pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Brown's fiancée, Gina Hall, 56, said she was away from the building when the shooting happened.
"Before I could come back out, I heard screaming. It happened so fast," Brown said.
"He was a good man. He took care of everyone. If you needed something, he gave it to you. If he could do it, he did it," Hall added.
Daquan Herring, Simmons' cousin, was shocked by the death.
“He was just so kind and so sweet and he looked out for everyone,” Herring said. “He was a great male role model in my life."
Video shows the suspected shooter at a row of bins before he ran off.
Then later that afternoon about 2:49 p.m. in The Bronx, David Hooks, 24, was shot in the torso near East 194th Street and Briggs Avenue, about three blocks from his home, police said. He was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said.
The weekend's gun violence began Saturday when 36-year-old Julio Yasser, of Gravesend, was fatally shot at 5:41 p.m. in the chest outside 1925 Church Ave., near Ocean Avenue, in Flatbush, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
About two hours later, 35-year-old Nestor Suazo, of Longwood, was arguing with a group of other men outside 724 E. Tremont Ave., near Clinton Avenue, about 7:56 p.m. when one of them pulled out a gun and shot him and a woman he was with, an NYPD spokesman said.
He was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said.
The 34-year-old woman he was with, whose name was not immediately released, was listed in stable condition at the same hospital, police said.
About 90 minutes later, Kevin Brye, 34, of East Harlem, was fatally shot in the head in a dimly lit pedestrian walkway of a construction site near East 115th Street and First Avenue, an NYPD spokesman said. He was pronounced dead at Metropolitan Hospital, police said.
Monday morning, politicians and community leaders from the Ingersoll houses gathered on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Ashland Place to decry the violence, which they said was linked to unemployment and the lack of policing.
“We could see big business across the street, but my people don’t work,” said Anthony Sosa, president of the Ingersoll Residents’ Association. “We need cameras, we need more security. We need more police."
There were no immediate arrests in any of the shootings.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477).
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article missidentified Calvin Clinkscales as having the nickname "Kojak." Lacount Simmons had the nickname "Kojack."
