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Man Shot and Killed in Front of Brownsville School

By  Janon Fisher Ben Fractenberg and Mathew Katz | November 14, 2013 2:48pm 

 A 26-year-old man was struck in the neck by a bullet in front of General D. Chappie James Elementary, police said.
A 26-year-old man was struck in the neck by a bullet in front of General D. Chappie James Elementary, police said.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

BROOKLYN — A man was shot and killed in front of a Brownsville elementary school Thursday, as parents were scheduled to meet with teachers to discuss their children's progress, police and education officials said.

A 26-year-old man was shot about 10:30 a.m. on Riverdale Avenue near Herzl Street, according to the NYPD. Police said when they arrived at the scene they found the man with a gunshot wound to the neck. Emergency medical workers declared the man dead at the scene.

"I looked out the window and saw a body laying there," said an employee at the school. "He had blood all around him."

The family of the victim identified him as Robert Martin, a father of two who had a baby earler this month.

"He works, takes care of his family, he's a good dude," said an uncle who declined to give his name. "All I know is my nephew is in the street, dead. I'm trying to hold my family together."

The brutal scene led education officials at the General D. Chappie James Elementary School and other schools housed in the building at 76 Riverdale Ave. to reschedule parent-teacher conferences from the afternoon to the evening. Evening parent-teacher conferences were set to continue as scheduled, officials said.

Students were led out of a door away from where the man's body lay on the sidewalk, Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg said.

"I think it's very dangerous," said Tyrone Pinnock, 46, who has two children at the school. "If they have a beef, they should have taken it elsewhere. You have babies here."

No one was immediately arrested in the shooting and police said their investigation was ongoing.