Three murders kick off violent start to weekend in NYC
Two fatal shootings and the stabbing murder of a Harlem woman kicked off a bloody weekend across the city as cops begin to gain some ground on the war to reduce gun violence, NYPD officials said Saturday.
Police and horrified witnesses said the weekend’s violence began about 8:15 p.m. Friday when a gunman fatally shot a 25-year-old man at point blank range during a clash in Brooklyn.
Victim Isaiah Bowman was just steps from his home at the Breukelen Houses, a public housing complex on E. 108th St. near Glenwood Road in Canarsie when the suspect stormed up and opened fire, witnesses said.
“He walked up and shot him in the chest,” said one neighbor, who wished not to be named.
“He was face up when I got to him. He wasn’t moving and then they started pumping his chest.”
EMS rushed Bowman to Brookdale University Medical Center, where he died.
Two hours later in Washington Heights, cops were called to the W. 144th St. home of 79-year-old breast cancer survivor Lanilda Nuez, and found the woman bleeding out in her bedroom.
Nuez was repeatedly stabbed in her chest and torso, police said. Two blood-stained knives were found near her body.
EMS rushed her to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where she died.
Police said her estranged husband, Geraldo Balbuena, was found in the apartment and was taken into custody for the killing.
Balbuena, 68, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, cops said.
Investigators believe Balbuena attacked her during a fight. The two were separated but still lived together. They never argued, said one neighbor, who wished not to be named.
The bloodshed continued at 3:30 a.m. in the Bronx when a 21-year-old man was gunned down outside a park down the block from his home.
Cops responding to a report of shots fired outside of Walter Gladwin Park at the corner of Arthur Ave. and E. 175th St. about 3:30 a.m. found victim Delijah Farmer sprawled out on the ground, shot in the chest.
EMS rushed Farmer to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.
A motive for the slaying was not immediately disclosed and no arrests have been made.
