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Musician Loses Eye In Bed-Stuy Hammer Attack
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 17, 2013
Modified Jul 17, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jul 17, 2013
Modified Jul 17, 2013
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A Brooklyn musician is recovering after he lost an eye after he was attacked by a man with a hammer last week. Dru Barnes, a member of the band Jogyo, was walking home to Fort Greene from a friend's place in Bed-Stuy around 10 a.m. last Thursday when a man with a hammer came from behind and attacked him, striking him several times in the head. Barnes, 34, was rushed to the hospital: "I arrive two hours later at the trauma unit, and there is Dru on a gurney. It was horrific, it was like a horror movie," Gerrit Vooren, the Bed-Stuy friend who Barnes had visited, told NBC 4 New York.
View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.
Cops believe the suspect followed Barnes for a block before attacking him in front of 934 Jefferson Avenue. Officers have now recovered the hammer used in the attack, but the suspect is still at large. Police haven't determined a motive yet, but they do not believe it was a hate crime or a robbery. "I'm not sure what the motive was," Barnes said from the hospital in the video above.
Vooren has set up a Facebook page to bring attention to the attack and help pay for the costs of the multiple surgeries Barnes has ahead of him. Doctors want to put in a prosthesis, but his optic nerve was completely severed, so he'll never be able to see out his left eye. "To be honest, having been hit in the head with a hammer, it's a miracle Dru is alive, and even more so that there's no brain damage at all," Vooren wrote.
Tagged
attack
brooklyn
dru barnes
eye
fort greene
hammer
jogyo
robbery
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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