WILLIAMSBURG — An investigation into the fatal shooting of a father of three in a crowded park Tuesday has hit a wall after witnesses — including another man wounded in the incident — have refused to step forward with information.
Taquan Hamilton, 28, was hit twice in the stomach just before 9 p.m. in the crowded Martinez Playground, police said. He died at Woodhull Hospital shortly after. The gunshots scattered the crowd and grazed a man in the leg that police believe was passing by the park at the time.
The man later checked himself into Harlem Hospital with a bullet wound claiming he'd been shot in Downtown Manhattan, but his story didn't check out, police said.
"It looks like he was just walking by," 90th Precinct Captain William Gardner said.
Investigators have no video footage of the shooting because the adjacent school's cameras are blocked by a construction shed, he noted. There's no suspected gang involvement, and authorities didn't find a gun at the scene, Gardner said.
"We're really depending on people in the neighborhood," he said. "We're encouraging them to contact the police."
Hamilton's family declined to comment when reached at their Fort Greene home Wednesday afternoon.
The tenant association president of the Williamsburg Houses, which abuts the playground on its western and eastern borders, urged anyone with information about the murder to reach out to police, for the sake of Hamilton's family.
"Please come forward," Gwen Campbell said. "As a mother, it's hard to hear that your child got killed and you don't know what happened.
"Just tell what happened so the family can have closure," she added.
Anyone with information about Hamilton's death can contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).