Gunfire shatters calm at Brooklyn’s Fulton Ferry Landing

Update: Drive-by shooting involved music video filmed in DUMBO

October 20, 2015 By Brooklyn Eagle Staff and Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The hole shown above was made by a bullet that crashed through the window of a bedroom at 8 Old Fulton St. in Brooklyn Heights. Photo by Kevin Jones

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A frightening incident involving what was thought to be semi-automatic weapon fire at Fulton Ferry Landing early Sunday morningwas connected to a music video being filmed on Front Street in DUMBO, where rival gang members converged, according to a report by Capt. Sergio Centa at the 84th Precinct Community Council meeting on Tuesday night.

Earlier, witnesses had speculated that the trouble broke out at a DUMBO party spot known to attract raucous crowds.

According to the NYPD, a 21-year-old man was shot one time in the arm at roughly 1:30 a.m. at the corner of Water Street and Old Fulton Street. He took private transportation to Brookdale Hospital, where he is in stable condition, police said. Police sources did not release names as the incident is still under investigation.

Witnesses said they heard as many as 12 shots, and at least six bullet holes were found in Fulton Ferry Landing and Brooklyn Heights buildings. (Fulton Ferry Landing is wedged between DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights.)

Shots hit buildings on both sides of Old Fulton Street. One crashed through the second-story window of a bedroom at 8 Old Fulton St.

Local resident Jennifer Landry said two children live in the apartment.

“Thank goodness none of them were hit,” she said. Landry told the Brooklyn Eagle that she and her husband, John Kilgore, heard roughly a dozen shots go off in rapid succession.

“It’s really shocking,” she said. Landry said that violence seemed to be increasing in Fulton Ferry Landing. “There’s been lots of violence, threatening stuff. It doesn’t feel safe late at night. This is gang stuff going on.”

Mark Thompson, manager of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, told the Eagle, “Any shots fired in Fulton Ferry area were drive-by, from a car that sped onto Fulton Street from Water.”

Mr. Thompson noted that police presence was very visible in Brooklyn Bridge Park. He reported that a police car was parked near Bargemusic, the floating concert hall next to Pier 1.

While some residents assumed that the perpetrators were involved in a sports activity at the park, “It would be a mistake to blame this incident on Brooklyn Bridge Park traffic,” Thompson said.

Leslie Lewis, community council president for the 84th Precinct, said the shooting was “targeted,” and that police have been stationed in Brooklyn Bridge Park on a regular basis since an earlier gunfire incident.

“Eight cops worked in Brooklyn Bridge Park last weekend,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle on Wednesday.

One shooting victim who had apparently been part of the dispute in DUMBO was later questioned by police at Brookdale Hospital. The victim originally claimed his injuries came from an incident in a different part of Brooklyn, according to someone familiar with the incident.

Parties that feature loud music and unsupervised liquor and drug consumption have been reported to emanate from a party spot near the Pearl Street Triangle, a popular gathering spot night and day, leading to earlier speculation that the trouble began there.

Alexandria Sica, executive director of the DUMBO Business Improvement District, said the group is meeting with the 84th Precinct to discuss recent incidents.

Landry says she thinks that things have gone down in the area recently.

“It’s really sad,” she said.

She added, “A semi-automatic is a terrifying sound.”

Updated on Wednesday with news that the incident was related to a music video being filmed on Front Street.