By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
NYPD has reported a record low in shootings and shooting victims during the past seven months since January 2025.
But that steady decline was interrupted last Saturday/Sunday by gunshots ripping through the night air at Brooklyn’s Taste of the City Lounge in Crown Heights, and patrons scattering.
When the smoke cleared, three people were dead, and at least 11 were injured.
The deceased, hit with multiple gunshot wounds, have been identified as: alleged shooters Jamel Childs, 35, and Marvin St. Louis, 19; and caught in the deadly crossfire, Amadou Diallo, 27, an innocent bystander.
The Uber Eats deliveryman came from Guinea 2 years ago.
Still preliminary in their investigations, cops said that they are still looking for the additional two gunmen. Police said that there was a dispute inside the crowded club that led to the shooting, with up to four shooters involved in this incident.
Calling for peace and the ending of gun violence, electeds and community leaders like Attorney General Letitia James, and veteran violence interrupter Erica Ford, attended community vigils and press conferences, which immediately followed the tragedy.
According to Associated Press.
“Mayor Adams said crisis management teams had been mobilized to provide trauma services and facilitate mediation efforts with the victims’ friends and families to try to stop any retaliation. He asked members of the public who might have information about the shooting to help investigators by calling NYPD’s crime stoppers line, 800-577-TIPS.
The mayor who has spent the last few weeks lauding how crime was down, also said that along with the “NYPD and our partners and our faith-based community and our crisis management teams, we have mobilized them to immediately respond to this incident, as well as work with the friends and families of victims to stop any potential retaliatory action.”
Working to prevent retaliatory shootings, Adams said, “We unfortunately will have to mobilize a mass shooting plan…we don’t want this to turn into a normal course of doing business of violence in our city.”
The Mayor added, “We will continue to fight to do everything that’s possible to continue to take illegal guns off our streets.”
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the shooting “a tragic, senseless act …Our job now is to determine who is responsible and to hold them accountable.”
A.T. Mitchell-Mann, NYC Gun Violence Prevention Czar, told Our Time Press: “This was particularly sad news, and we were very taken aback because the summer has been relatively going quite well” and now his team is “on location at the hospitals, working with the families, and, trying to prevent any forms of retaliation.”
Camara Jackson, CEO of Elite Learners Inc., told Our Time Press. “Elite Learners deployed immediately to provide crisis support and prevent retaliation, but emergency responses are no longer enough. We need sustained investment in evidence-based violence intervention programs, economic opportunities for our young people, and comprehensive approaches that address the root causes driving this cycle of trauma.
Adams’ also said, “If you were inside the club, if you heard individuals talking about this shooting, if you witnessed someone fleeing the location, every piece of information will allow us to put the puzzle together.”
As of yesterday, Wednesday, there were no arrests at press time, and the investigation remains active and ongoing.