DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A teen heading to the mall to pick up girls was killed and his buddy was wounded after gunfire erupted during a fight in Downtown Brooklyn Monday night, police said.
Armani Hankins, 16, was fatally shot in the head when an altercation broke out at the busy intersection of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue around 6 p.m., according to officials.
The gang-related brawl near the Applebee's restaurant and Long Island University involved a large group, an NYPD spokesman said.
Hankins, of Jamaica, Queens, was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead.
Another victim, an 18-year-old man, was shot in the ankle and taken to Methodist Hospital where he was listed in stable condition.
Hankins and his friend, both reputed members of an East New York gang called the "425 Crew,"
had just come from Atlantic Terminal Mall where they were trying to pick up girls, according to police sources.
After leaving mall, the pair got into an argument with several other young teens and young men, also believed to be gang members, sources said.
Police found seven .22-caliber shell casings near the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush avenues, sources said.
LaLa Matthews, who was near the scene of brawl, said she saw people running before shots rang out.
"'Boom! Boom! Boom!' One after another. I seen the kid laying on the ground," Matthews, 45, said. "Blood was pouring out. The kid had on a blue jacket. He was face down. It was devastating."
Hankins, also known as “Rocky,” was a student at John Adams High School who liked to play basketball, according to his sister, Brandy Burt.
“He was really funny, smart,” Burt, 19, said through tears. “Even if we were mad, he’d always make us laugh.”
Hankins was set to transfer to Queens Academy and wanted to become a lawyer, his sister added.
“He didn’t even have a chance to be enrolled.”
His sister was unaware of his alleged gang affiliations, she said.
His mother, Joyce Burt, broke down outside their Jamaica, Queens home Tuesday morning.
“They took my baby,” Burt, 35, said. “He was gonna change his life around, and they took him.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams emphasized the need for additional resources in the fight against the city’s “gang problem,” calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allocate more money for anti-violence organizations.
“When a cup of violence overfills, the blood spills downtown as well as in the inner parts of the borough and of the city," Adams said Tuesday, speaking outside the DeKalb Avenue Applebee’s.
"The police can only go but so far. Now the residue of violence in the crevices of our community must be focused on, and only those organizations and groups operating in partnership with the police can address this.”
Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo joined Adams, addressing the borough’s spate of fatal shootings as a “serious epidemic.”
“This epidemic is so pervasive that on a regular basis, we are coming forward with press conferences, rallies and vigils — almost on a weekly basis,” Cumbo said.
No arrests had been made as of Tuesday morning, police said.
