BUSHWICK — A father was shot to death after going into the lobby of his apartment building to investigate a suspicious noise early Wednesday morning, police said.
Hector Diaz, a 35-year-old father of two boys, was home with his girlfriend in his second-floor apartment at 320 Menahan St., near Wyckoff Avenue, about 1:12 a.m. when they heard a noise and he went to investigate, neighbors and police said.
Once down in the lobby, he was fatally shot in the head, an NYPD spokesman said. It was not immediately clear whether he was the target of the shooting, but according to reports, he may have stumbled into a burglary.
"I just heard one shot, one boom. Then a couple seconds after, a woman was screaming," said a neighbor who lives across the street, Henry Alcea, 55.
Ambulance workers came quickly, Alcea said.
"They had him on a stretcher. He didn't have no shoes on. He wasn't moving. He wasn't conscious," he added.
Diaz was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital, police said.
There were no immediate arrests, police said.
Diaz frequently walked his pitbulls through the neighborhood since hemoved there about 2009, neighbors said.
"He was a nice guy. He'd say, 'Hi.' He had three dogs, but one died. He'd walk them every day," said neighbor Mahamed Losseni, 43.
