CROWN HEIGHTS — Two shootings in the neighborhood last week — both involving teens — are related, police said.
A 17-year-old boy was shot in the backside while exiting a discount store at about 5 p.m. Jan. 5 on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, police said. Four days later, 19-year-old Jaquay Bennett was gunned down and killed near his home at St. Marks and New York avenues.
Deputy Inspector Eddie Lott, commanding officer of the 77th Precinct, told residents at a meeting Monday night the unidentified 17-year-old victim is a member of the “Lincoln Fam” gang and that police believe the two shootings are connected.
“Both of them are active investigations, but do we think there is a correlation? Yes, we do,” Lott said at the meeting held at the precinct.
“We definitely believe there is a link between those two shootings. Year to date [in 2015] … we’ve already had three shootings and one homicide. Three shootings and one of them culminated in the death of a 19-year-old. And it’s cold,” he said, speaking of the weather, which can correlate with less frequent shootings.
Precinct detectives have identified 29 members of the “Lincoln Fam” gang, including the victim in the Jan. 5 shooting, though Lott did not say whether any of them are suspects in last week's shootings.
Three suspects caught on surveillance video near the Franklin Avenue shooting are still at large, police said. No suspects have been identified in the shooting of Bennett.
Anyone with information in regards to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
