A 1-year-old boy was killed Sunday night as gun violence surged across New York City.
The child, 22-month-old Davell Gardner, was struck in the abdomen while sitting in his stroller near Raymond Bush Playground in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, according to The New York Times.
Three men were also wounded in the incident, which took place at about 11:30 p.m., when two gunmen approached a group having a cookout, fired at the group and then ran off, police said.
The shooting came on a weekend in which at least 35 people were shot in 28 incidents, according to the Daily News. The victims included two boys, one 12 and one 15, who were wounded in separate incidents - one in Brooklyn and one in Harlem.
Through July 5, 585 shootings have taken place in New York City. At a comparable point last year, there had been 381 shootings.
Police took to social media in the aftermath of Davell’s death.
A one year old child is dead. The baby was with his family enjoying a Sunday night in the Summer when someone started shooting . Three people were injured and the baby was killed. This. Must.STOP! We as a community, we as a police department denounce this disgusting violence. pic.twitter.com/R66DVO6cTA
— Chief Jeffrey Maddrey (@NYPDCommAffairs) July 13, 2020
Last night, 4 people were shot at a Brooklyn cookout, including a 1-year-old child who died from his injuries.
These are the very real people affected by senseless gun violence.
Anyone with information about this incident, or any crime in NYC call @NYPDTips pic.twitter.com/d2Zly42Zb4
— Commissioner Shea (@NYPDShea) July 13, 2020
Residents in the area were also angry, according to WCBS-TV.
“Please put these guns down. We don’t need no more of this,” Tommy Holiday, who lives near the park where Davell was killed, said. “When does this stop? Friday, my nephew was killed in East New York. Today, a 1-year-old baby. When does this stop? This is a shame, this is a 1-year-old baby seen no life yet.”
“It’s ‘O.K. Corral’ in the streets,” he said to KABC-TV. “We talk about what police doing to us, look at what we are doing to ourselves. What does ‘black lives matter’ if you’re killing yourselves.”
Some said elected officials bear a share of the blame.
To De Blasio, YOU along with the criminals you support are who did this. You are destroying families with your garbage policies. This is the 1-year-old boy who was senselessly killed in NYC. Davell Gardner, say his name. https://t.co/qBx0fL7Fj1 via @nypmetro
— Peggy Maysonet (@PeggyMaysonet) July 13, 2020
Last night a baby sitting in his stroller died from a hail of gunfire that wounded three men at a cookout at a Brooklyn park. May innocent little Davell Gardner rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/5WJxrGm0u5
— Joe Caldarera (@JoeCalNYC) July 13, 2020
Community advocate Tony Herbert called for a return of the Anti-Crime Unit of the NYPD, which was dissolved amid Black Lives Matter protests against the police.
“The guns keep going off, and now we have a 1-year-old, and the blood is on the hands of this mayor and the state legislature,” he said to WABC-TV.
“They need to raise the mandatory minimum of anybody carrying an illegal firearm to 10 years, and I can guarantee it will reduce this amount of gun violence.”
Herbert said politicians are putting their money in the wrong places.
“Right now, it’s about saving lives. Throwing money to have basketball tournaments or painting damn murals on the street, that’s not going to help us,” he said to KABC-TV.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
