15-year-old student killed in shooting after leaving school in Downtown Brooklyn park

The Bobster

Senior News Editor since 2004

15-year-old student killed in shooting after leaving school in Downtown Brooklyn park​



By
Larry Celona,

Steven Vago and

Priscilla DeGregory


September 7, 2022 4:32pm
Updated









Teen shot in chest in Downtown Brooklyn park



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A 15-year-old student died Wednesday after he was shot by a masked gunman in a crowded Downtown Brooklyn park near his high school, cops said.
Unique Smith, a student at Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools, was shot by one of two masked bandits he had gotten into a fistfight with in McLaughlin Park Wednesday afternoon.
He had been hospitalized in critical condition, but died of his injuries in the hospital Wednesday evening, police sources and the boy’s grandfather told The Post.
Smith was sitting on a bench in the park with two school-age girls when two male assailants approached him wearing ski masks, Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a press conference following the shooting.
“Words were exchanged and a fist fight ensued,” Essig said. “The male – who is described as wearing all black and a black mask – removed a firearm firing one time and striking our victim.”
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The two suspects then fled the park on Tillary Street towards Adams, Essig said.There were at least 30 others in the park at the time, Essig said.

First responders crowding around an ambulance.A 15-year-old was in critical condition after he was shot at a Downtown Brooklyn park.William Farrington for NY Post
The police are searching the area and looking for video of the two suspects, including the shooter, a law enforcement source said.


Smith’s grandfather, Kenneth Davis, said he is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who turns over the boy’s killer.


“Put that in your paper: A $5,000 reward from the grandfather,” he told The Post.


Police had no motive for the attack on Smith, whose charter school has been open since August. It comes on the eve of the start of classes for the city public schools. But sources told The Post, the victim was targeted.


Essig said investigators would check with the school to see if any argument had occurred during the day and he encouraged witnesses to come forward with any information about the fight.


Two witnesses were also being questioned at the 84th precinct, Essig said.

People gathered around the crime scene.The teen boy is a student at a Brooklyn charter school.William Farrington for NY Post
Davis told The Post that the 15-year-old’s mother was devastated by the news that her son was unable to be saved after undergoing emergency surgery.


“They’re falling apart,” he said about the mother and other relatives.


“He’s a terrific young man,” Davis said about Smith. “He helps around the house. He’s energetic. He’s just an average 15-year-old. It’s sad.”


Davis said he didn’t know why someone would do this to his grandson.


“I just hope we catch these idiots that are running around with these guns,” Davis said. “It’s just sad that these guns are flooding into the community. The police are doing everything they could but guns just keep pouring in here.“


Two people who work nearby and were gathered by the scene said they were shocked and saddened by the shooting.

Crime scene inside the park.Cops are looking for two suspects, including the shooter.William Farrington for NY Post
“I saw them working on the poor kid and from what I could make out, he did not look good,” Michael Foster, 51, told The Post. “They were pumping his chest and he wasn’t moving on his own. It seemed like his heart wasn’t beating and his color wasn’t good.”



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“Bullets are flying indiscriminately, and it’s unacceptable,” Foster said.


Allyson Solomon, 35, told The Post she is “flabbergasted.”


“I’m in mourning. What is happening to the city where a boy who’s just starting out his life gets shot in the chest in the middle of downtown Brooklyn?” Solomon said.


“The courts are all around this park. The police are everywhere, court officers everywhere, and someone’s got the nerve to shoot a gun here, in a park where kids play after school? When does it stop?”
 
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