CROWN HEIGHTS — A gunman shot and wounded two men during a gambling dispute Thursday morning, ending a 126-day streak without any shootings in the area, officials and activists said.
Bullets started to fly about 12:40 a.m. on the second floor hallway of 1376 St. Johns Place, near Schenectady Avenue, an NYPD spokesman said.
One of the victims, a 37-year-old man, ran into a nearby apartment and shut the door when the bullets started flying, police said. But a bullet pierced the wooden door and hit him in the abdomen, police said.
He was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition, NYPD officials said.
A 32-year-old man was hit in the back of the hand and took himself to Interfaith Hospital for treatment, NYPD officials said.
The victims were not immediately named and the shooter is still at large, police said.
The shooting ended a 126 days stretch without a single shooting in the area, according to Save Our Streets Crown Heights, a mediation group that aims to prevent gun violence.
The group posted to social media Wednesday, celebrating their streak of peace in the area, bounded to the north by Atlantic Avenue, east by Utica, south by Eastern Parkway and west by Franklin Avenue.
Staff there said the group is disappointed that the streak ended, but are working to organize a rally against the violence and to find out the likelihood of retaliation through their team of "violence interrupters," said Allen James, program manager at S.O.S. Crown Heights.
“We try not to get invested in the string of days because we know the problem hasn’t been solved," he said Thursday.