STAPLETON — Two brothers, one an aspiring rapper, were shot to death outside a gas station in Staten Island early Sunday morning, police said.
Police found Terrell Ford, 27, and Justin Ford, 28, with gunshot wounds blocks from their home at Targee Street and Vanderbilt Avenue at about 2:56 a.m., police said.
"These streets took my brothers," Michael Ford, a third brother, wrote on Instagram on Sunday. "I don't know how to feel right now ... I'm really sick right now."
The shooting stemmed from a fight in an after-hours club on Hillside Avenue and moved to the gas station, where Terrell Ford followed and tried to calm tensions, according to the Staten Island Advance and the New York Times.
Justin Ford, who just finished a shift at the Lulu Car Service, saw his brother in the fight and rushed over to help. They were both shot, the Advance reported.
Terrell Ford was hit in the torso and taken to Richmond University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Justin Ford was shot in the back and taken to Staten Island University Hospital North where he was pronounced dead.
Justin rapped under the name SL Blicky and wrote songs about growing up in the borough and taking the Staten Island Ferry.
"He was just a kid full of life," a friend, who didn't want to give his name, said outside a memorial for the brothers on Vanderbilt Avenue. "He could turn something to good."
Both brothers graduated from New Dorp High School and had young daughters, friends said outside the memorial.
No arrests have been made and police are investigating the shooting.