Ray Lemoine Bracetti PlazaA man was shot on East Third Street this afternoon in one of two incidents that brought ambulances to the block between Avenues B and C.
The 52-year-old man was shot around 1:15 p.m. by another man who fled the scene; he was taken to Bellevue Hospital and was not likely to die, said the police. No arrests have been made.
Gabriel Escalante, 27, heard gunfire while he was in the kitchen at Rossy’s Bakery, across the street from the Bracetti Plaza public housing development. “I guess they got him as he was leaving his building,” he said. Mr. Escalante said the man, known as Mondo, was a regular customer of the bakery and a “nice guy.”
Ray LemoineAn employee of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, who wished to remain anonymous because of his proximity to the shooting, said the victim was “always running around causing problems.”
Soon after the incident, on the other end of the block, the brunch scene drew emergency vehicles as well.
“I was coming back around 3 p.m. and I see a girl puking into a flowerbed and ask her what’s wrong,” said Jack Hassabah, the doorman at The Deco East, a luxury rental building on the block. “She said, ‘Leave me alone,’ then passed out. The ambulances showed up right after, because her friend was down the block puking and belligerent already.”
Luke Chase, of Elsa Bar, laughed at the confluence of incidents. “Gentrification at its best,” he said.
Daniel Maurer contributed reporting.
Correction, April 17, 2013: This post was revised to correct an error. The original version misidentified the Nuyorican Poets Cafe as the Nuyorican Poetry Club.
