A 24-year-old man was shot in the eye in Brooklyn Thursday night, just a day after residents and community activists held a rally against gun violence.
Witnesses said the shooting on Schaefer Street occurred after an argument over a basketball game in a Bushwick playground, steps away from a jungle gym for children.
The shooting follows a wave of recent violence in the city. On Sunday, 3-year-old Isaiah Rivera was caught in the middle of a shootout and struck by a bullet in the leg while playing in a sprinkler near his home in Bedford Stuyvesant. Two men have been arrested in connection with that shooting, which inspired Wednesday's rally.
Police are still searching for Thursday's shooter. The victim is listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital, police said.
Meanwhile, nearby residents said they were fed up with all the violence.
"You want to stop everything, get rid of the guns. Stop making them," said Face McIntosh, whose four sons were playing near the basketball court an hour before the violence erupted.
On Tuesday, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly accused local community leaders of being quick to rail against the city's stop-and-frisk policies, while staying silent on the issue of gun violence.
Brooklyn state Sen. Eric Adams reacted to Kelly's comments Wednesday.
"Take a walk, talk to the people who are tired of violence," Adams said, inviting Kelly to visit the neighborhoods in his district.
For Community Advocate Tony Herbert, the real problem is how easily accessible guns are within his community.
"If you bump me or whatever the case may be, I'm going to pull out a gun and shoot you? What kind of society are we living in now that we have this kind of access to guns?" Herbert asked.
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