1-Year-Old Shot Dead During Bed-Stuy Cookout, Police Say

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A one-year-old child was shot and killed Sunday night outside a Bed-Stuy playground, an NYPD spokesman confirmed.

The child was shot during a cookout at Raymond Bush Playground on Madison Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard shortly after 11:30 p.m., police said. The child was rushed to Interfaith Medical Center by private means and then transferred to Maimonides Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Three other men — ages 36, 35 and 27 — were shot at the cookout, an NYPD spokesman said. All three men were taken to area hospitals and are expected to survive their wounds, police said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio described the young boy's death as "heartbreaking" during a Monday morning press conference. The mayor also took a moment of silence during the press briefing for the boy.

"It’s not acceptable, it’s not something we can ever look away from," de Blasio told reporters.

New York City is experiencing a rise in shootings this summer, according to statistics reported by the NYPD. The NYPD recorded 585 shootings with 717 victims as of July 5, compared to 381 shootings with 439 victims at the same point in 2019.

Three gunmen allegedly drove up to the cookout in a dark-colored SUV, parked the car and opened fire, the New York Post reported. An NYPD spokesman could not confirm this detail. No arrests have been made in connection with the shootings, police said.