Man, 24, Fatally Shot In Central Harlem Amid Uptick In Shootings

HARLEM, NY — A 24-year-old man was shot and killed in Central Harlem on Monday, the latest in a series of shootings in the neighborhood this month.

Police responded around 12:35 a.m. Monday to a 911 call about a man being shot on West 139th Street between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue.

They found the victim, Menkie Woodard-Collins, with a gunshot wound to the head. He was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, where he was pronounced dead.

Woodard-Collins lived about two dozen block south, on Fifth Avenue, according to police.

The shooting, which happened outside the Savoy Park apartment complex, appeared to stem from an argument on the street, the Daily News reported. Residents of the apartment complex have complained of rising violence on nearby blocks.

Through last week, there had been three murders reported in Harlem's 32nd Precinct in the past month, up from one in the previous month. That included the Sept. 4 shooting that killed Kuldip Singh, a 21-year-old Uber driver, who was hit by a stray bullet.

Earlier this week, in the same precinct, 31-year-old Shanice Young, a pregnant woman from Harlem, was gunned down on West 128th Street outside her own baby shower.

Amid the uptick in shootings, the gun violence-prevention group Street Corner Resources was planning a rally Tuesday afternoon calling for peace.

Across the city, crime has mostly dropped this month, soothing initial fears that this summer would be an especially violent one.