Police officer speaking with an investigator on Willoughby Street by Fort Greene Park near the site of the May 2 shooting on. (Photo by Michael Randazzo)
Police are still searching for a gunman who wounded two 17-year-old girls and a 26-year-old man last week. Witnesses described the shooter as a thin black man dressed in a dark hoodie, police say.
A 24-year-old man was shot and wounded in the neck on May 2 at 2:45 p.m. on Saint Edwards Place near Willoughby Street. He was taken to Kings County Hospital.
Including the above crimes, two arrests and 17 felonies were reported in the 88th Precinct between April 28 and May 4. Locals also reported a robbery at gunpoint, smartphone thefts and thefts from homes.
Robbery at Gunpoint
Police arrested Otis Nimmons, 54, on May 3 for allegedly robbing a 32-year-old man at gunpoint while he was walking on Fulton Street near Vanderbilt Avenue at 7:30 p.m. that day. The man told police that Nimmons approached him and asked for $25. When the man refused, Nimmons allegedly said, “I have a gun and don’t want to use it. Give me the cash you have.” After taking $20 from the man, he ran off on Fulton Street. Police arrested him on Myrtle Avenue near Walworth Street after a brief search. Nimmons is charged with robbery in the first and third degrees, menacing in the second degree, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, menacing in the third degree and harassment in the second degree, according to the Kings County District Attorney’s office.
Robbery at Knifepoint
A 27-year-old man was attacked and robbed at knifepoint by four men and two women on May 3 while he was walking on South Oxford Street near Lafayette Avenue at 1:25 a.m. He told police that someone hit him on the neck from behind and when he turned around, there were four men and two women following him. He ran to an apartment building on South Oxford Street to ring the bell for help, and the four men followed him up the steps. One man drew a knife and demanded his wallet and iPhone. The thieves then ran north on South Oxford Street. Police searched but could not find the thieves.
Smartphone Thefts
-A thief grabbed a 25-year-old woman’s iPhone as she was leaving the G-train subway station at Lafayette Avenue and Clinton Avenue on April 28 at 1:15 p.m. She told police that she was checking the GPS on her phone when a man slapped it to the ground, grabbed it and ran east on Lafayette Avenue.
-Two men robbed a 44-year-old man of his iPhone 5 and wallet, containing $1,750, while he was sitting in his car on Carlton Avenue near Park Avenue on April 28 at 11 p.m. He told police one man grabbed his phone from his right hand his wallet from his left hand, and the two thieves ran south on Carlton Avenue. Police said they have video surveillance of the thieves at 135 Park Avenue.
-Two thieves robbed a 16-year-old in the Ingersoll Houses on April 30 when he was coming home from school at 3:45 p.m. He told police that he was walking into his apartment building when two men approached him and asked if he had any money or a cellphone. The boy said they grabbed his Samsung Galaxy S4 and $40 from his pants pocket and fled.
-A man and a woman robbed a 20-year-old woman of her her Samsung Galaxy Note on May 2 at 11:30 p.m. as she was walking on Willoughby Avenue near Emerson Place. She told police that the woman came from behind and grabbed her hair and ran off. Then the man snatched her cellphone and ran in the same direction. Police searched but could not find the thieves.
Assault on Street
A masked man in a gray hoodie and an accomplice choked and robbed a 51-year-old woman on May 2 at 4:20 a.m. as she was walking on Saint James Place near Fulton Street. She told police she left a store at Fulton Street and Washington Avenue when she saw a masked man inside. As she was walking north on Saint James Place, she said a man jumped her from behind and started choking her while the masked man she had seen in the store snatched $50 from her front pocket. Police said they retrieved video surveillance of the masked man from the store.
Attempted Knife Assault
Police arrested Neville Braxton, 50, for allegedly threatening an 18-year-old man with a knife in Not Ray’s Pizza at 694 Fulton Street on May 4 at 10 p.m. The man told police that Braxton swung a knife at his face. Braxton is charged with menacing in the second and third degrees, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and harassment in the second degree, according to the Kings County District Attorney’s office.
Thefts from Homes
-A 24-year-old man told police that someone stole a Samsung 35-inch television, a Samsung 40- inch television, an AKG Perception microphone and stand, worth $8,200, from his apartment on Carlton Avenue near Lafayette Avenue on May 2. He told police that the thief used the spare key to the apartment, which was hanging on the back of the locked security gate. Police said there were no signs of forced entry.
-A thief stole a MacBook Air, a black and green Kelty backpack, a Citibank checkbook, a Google Glass and a Bose sound system, worth $4,150 from his apartment on South Portland Avenue near DeKalb Avenue on May 3. He told police he left his apartment at 11 a.m. and came back six hours later to find two bedroom doors open and his possessions missing. Police said there were no signs of forced entry.
-A 26-year-old woman told police that she came back to her apartment on Waverly Avenue near DeKalb Avenue at 10:40 p.m. on May 3 and found both the front and apartment doors unlocked and her MacBook Pro missing.
Theft at Walt Whitman Houses
-A 41-year-old woman told police that her iPhone and its case with her MCU debit card was stolen during a work meeting in the Walt Whitman Houses on April 29. She told police that she placed her phone on a table during a morning meeting with coworkers, and then stepped into her supervisor’s office for 15 minutes. When she came back to the table, her phone was missing. The case also contained her New York State learner’s permit and her NYCHA identification card.
Check Fraud
A worker for WITNESS, a non-profit group located at 80 Hanson Place, told police on May 2 that the organization had sent two checks in the past month totaling $26,937.07 to the Brooklyn Academy of Music Local Development Corporation, but the checks never arrived and someone else had cashed the checks.
Theft at Tillary Street Women’s Shelter
A thief stole a diamond ring worth $2,000 from a 64-year-old Tillary Street Women’s Shelter resident on May 3. She told police that she had stored her ring in her luggage while she slept, but woke up to find it missing and her luggage tampered with.
Theft from Restaurant
A temporary worker at Mullane’s Bar & Grill at 71 Lafayette Avenue is suspected of stealing $2,000 from the restaurant on May 4. Another worker told police that the suspected thief, who had been hired from a temp agency, came to work at 8 a.m., went behind the counter and took the money from a drawer and left. Police said a surveillance camera captured video of the theft. Police were unable to find the suspect’s address or date of birth
