Photo: Angelica Frey
A 53-year-old man was shot in the courtyard of an East Williamsburg housing project this morning, the police said.
The victim took a single gunshot in the lower back outside of 223 Ten Eyck Walk and was taken to Kings County Hospital; police said he was not likely to die.
Photo: Angelica Frey
The incident, which occurred around 11:30 a.m., is the second instance of daytime gunfire near the intersection of Bushwick Avenue and Grand Street in less than a month. On January 20, two teenagers were shot near Progress High School for Professional Careers, two blocks away from the Williamsburg Houses.
Maggie Negron, who has lived in the historic low-income housing complex for 35 years, complained that police weren’t active enough in the area. “They don’t want to do nothing because they say there’s not enough crime,” she told us, laughing bitterly. She said she sees otherwise: “A lot of things happen here in broad daylight,” she insisted, citing “drug paraphernalia” and recalling an incident during which a man left his five-year-old son at the playground while he fled from police.
Luis Quinones, who has lived in the area for the past 18 months, described it as a “quiet neighborhood” largely inhabited by senior citizens like himself. “But you know what?” he said, gesturing towards 223 Van Eyck Walk, “In this building here, they sell drugs, I see the traffic all day long.”