Police responding to a call of a fire in a Brooklyn housing development Sunday afternoon found a man inside who had been shot to death, along with another man in the building's courtyard who had gunshot wounds, the NYPD says.
Emergency personnel responded to a call of a fire at Stuyvesant Gardens Houses on Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant and found Qasim Mitchell, 24, unresponsive with a gunshot wound inside a first-floor apartment that was filled with smoke, police say. He was later pronounced dead.
A 38-year-old man with gunshot wounds to his shoulder and torso was also found in the building's rear courtyard, police say. The man is now in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.
The fire was quickly brought under control, police say, but many questions remain.
Authorities say they don't know whether the fire or shooting came first, or if the blaze was intentionally set. Nor is it clear why the victims were targeted.
Neighbors said the shootings make them worry about the area's safety.
"Now it is not only about the two people who were hit ... now you're creating an unsafe environment for the people in the building, the whole neighborhood," said Harold Akyeampong.
