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Not Everyone In "Disbelief" Over "Shocking" Williamsburg Shooting
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 29, 2012
Modified Jul 29, 2012
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James Thilman
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 29, 2012
Modified Jul 29, 2012
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When somebody gets shot off the main drag of the gentrified yupster party district of Williamsburg, the media takes notice. After all, Williamsburg is one of their best sources for infuriating style stories, so it's only natural this crime would merit close attention (as opposed to all the other non-fatal shootings that happen in NYC on any given night). But although the Times and the Daily News report that local residents are in a state of "shock" and "disbelief" after the Friday night shooting of a 24-year-old man on North 9th Street, others tell us they're not at all surprised the victim got popped.
More on the shooting in Williamsburg. Met the reporter, too. She was fishing for that quote about this being unexpected m.nydailynews.com/1.1123915
— Gerald Rich (@Gerald_Rich) July 28, 2012
As we reported yesterday, neighbors say the unidentified victim—who is expected to survive—was shot at a spot where suspected drug dealers have been conducting business. "For months I have watched guys hang out by that Jaguar in the evening, one will get a phone call go inside and minutes later drive off, and come back 15 minutes later," said one tipster. Another says one of the suspects is a local drug dealer: "He and his boys smoke weed outside their place three or four times every fucking day." The NYPD press office does not have any information about arrests related to the shooting, but this morning a spokesman confirmed the victim was not likely to die
And a third resident who lives on the block sends us this account:
Last week there was an incident where the dealer and his boys were outside BLASTING music all night. At some point there was an argument and I called the cops. Couldnt quite make out what the argument was about but knowing that it was the dealer crew out there, I actually said to my boyfriend, "if I don't call the cops, someone is going to get shot." Since our bedroom has a window facing the front of the building, I didn't want to be the victim of a stray bullet.
Called the cops 3 times. They said they'd send someone but no one came. The argument simmered down but music went on blasting til way after midnight - we used earplugs to go to sleep. It was funny to me because the detectives yesterday were complaining about a lack of resources to know about what's going on in the community in advance by doing more foot patrols. I told him that's ludicrous because no one even showed up when we called! I'd thought of calling other times when they were all standing outside smoking pot too, but never did for fear of retaliation: I see them smoking pot, go inside, and cops suddenly show up? Who would they finger?
Tonight the cops came and busted in the guy's apartment. Apparently he'd left the scene with his Jag and stayed at his baby mama's house. (A baby mama who drunkenly broke their window screaming for her son just a few months ago, which led to another cop encounter on N9th St in the wee hours.) They picked up the guy, his baby mama, his brother and his mom. Not sure which of them were arrested vs hauled in for questions, but the cops were bringing stuff out of his apartment tonight w cop cars lining the block.
This guy is a SCOURGE to the neighborhood and deserves to be locked up. I only hope he doesn't come back. Not fair that we all have to live in fear over this douchebag. There is a real serious tension here between people who have lived in Williamsburg for a long time and the "newcomers." I say this as someone who has been mugged by a fellow Williamsburg resident outside the Orthodox church on Driggs and had a restraining order against a different neighbor a couple of years ago after she punched me in the face while calling me a "rich yuppie."
I grew up near East New York and so at first I was kind of surprised and startled by the violence and ugliness that happens here occasionally in "hipsterland." But living here for four years, I understand it all too well. Things like the shooting or McCarren scuffles happen on a smaller level every single day around here, and that's missed in things like this idiotic profile of Wythe Ave.
Well, we all know this sort of thing would never happen over on Wythe. But what's this? Nestled among the neighborhood's general mood of "disbelief," the Times also detects notes of healthy Williamsburg cynicism. Jacob Liddell, 28, who lives off Bedford Avenue, tells the Times, "The thing is with this neighborhood is that everyone thinks it’s getting all gentrified and all the people who may have been like, ‘Oh I don’t go to Brooklyn,’ all those people are coming here now. I hope this scares them back into Manhattan."
Tagged
brooklyn
gun violence
shooting
style
the media
trends
williamsburg
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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