Ernest Brown, East New York Father of 8, Shot Dead on Bed-Stuy Street

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A father of eight was gunned down in Bed-Stuy early Tuesday morning in a shooting that also sent a second victim to the hospital, according to the NYPD and media reports.

Ernest Brown, 33, an East New York resident (pictured above), was sitting in his car outside 675 Halsey St. in Bed-Stuy shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday when he was shot in the head and torso, according to the NYPD.

Emergency responders took Brown to Interfaith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Additionally, a 22-year-old woman who was also in the car was shot in the torso, police said. She was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.

No arrests had been made as of Tuesday, and an investigation into the shooting was ongoing, according to the NYPD.

Detectives described the shooter as a male dressed in a blue sweatshirt and grey sweatpants, but did not have further information as of Tuesday.

A witness told DNAinfo that two men with "athletic builds" and hooded sweatshirts had fled the crime scene on foot, running south on Patchen Avenue.

NBC reported that Brown had eight children. The station filmed the mother of one of his children collapsing in grief at the spot where Brown died.

"He tried to do right," the woman told the network. "He lived by his kids. All he wanted was the best for his kids."

The woman's father, Joe Jennings, said that Brown had been shot once before last year, but survived.

DNAinfo described a chaotic scene in which medical personnel tried unsuccessfully to revive Brown, while the 22-year-old woman who had also been shot "went into shock" and "started screaming and crying."

A local man named Marc Perez, 48, told the news site that he was a friend of Brown's. He described the victim as a "good dude."

"I don't know if he was into something or what, but all I ever saw was the good side," Perez said in the DNAinfo interview. "I feel messed up. It's sad."

Anyone with information on this shooting can confidentially report it using the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers website or by anonymously calling the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Los hispanohablantes pueden llamar 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

Tips can also be text-messaged to the NYPD by texting 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577.

Brown was murdered within the NYPD's 81st Precinct, which covers the eastern half of Bed-Stuy. According to official police statistics, through July 24, major crime in the 81st was collectively down about 20 percent compared to the same time period last year.

However, these same statistics show that 24 shootings with 35 victims have been recorded in the precinct so far this year — way up from 17 shootings with 18 victims during the same period in 2015.

Just two days before Brown's murder, another young father, Charles Byrd, was shot dead outside the Brevoort Houses in Bed-Stuy.

Anti-gun violence group Save Our Streets Brooklyn has been out in force in Bed-Stuy. On July 20, the organization lead a march through Herbert Von King Park, near the scene of two July shootings, one of which was fatal.

"If you're not moving to save our streets, you're moving to destroy our streets," David Gaskin, a program manager with S.O.S., said at the march.

"Don't wait 'til it's your family member," said Shnequa Purvis, 32, who lost her sister to gun violence at the Tompkins Houses. "Don't wait 'til it's you. Don't wait 'til it's your child. Don't wait 'til it's your parent."

Click here to donate to S.O.S. and find more info about getting involved.