Violent Father's Day Weekend in New York City
NEW YORK (PIX11) -- A stain of violence this Father’s Day weekend in the streets of New York City after police said there were multiple shootings, hours apart, in different boroughs.
The mother of 22-year-old Miguel Molina is inconsolable as she is escorted to identify his body.
“They killed my son. He was innocent. He doesn’t do anything bad to him. Little murderers. They are all murderers,” said Molina’s mother.
Molina was the dad of a 1-year-old girl. Police said he died Saturday after being shot in the chest outside his building at the Eastchester Gardens public housing complex. The shooting was just steps from a playground and the basketball court.
“He’s my little man. He’s got a little basketball move. That’s how I know him, being a good dude. Humble,” said a neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous.
During the shooting, another person was grazed by a bullet and just hours later, on the same street, Adee Avenue, another man was shot in a separate incident. But there were four other shootings within the same 24-hour time span; at around 11 p.m. on a New York Avenue in Brooklyn, a 38-year-old man was shot in the leg.
Half an hour later, in the Bronx’s West Farms neighborhood, another man was shot in the torso and killed and then around 3 a.m. on the lower east side of Manhattan, a 28-year-old man was shot in the head. He’s in critical condition.
“His baby girl just started walking. He was a good father, seen pushing his child. And his mom did her best to protect all her children and keep them in the house. She tried getting them out of the hood,” a neighbor told PIX11 News.
The rash of violence was too upsetting for those who knew the victims personally.
“It's just senseless. I don’t know what he could’ve done or why would anyone would want to take a life. It's just meaningless. My heart goes out to young people. It’s so hard to live in this world today,” the neighbor added.