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Gunman Is Arrested in Mass Shooting at Brooklyn Block Party He Defied a Code. His Neighbors Turned Him In for Murder, Police Say.
(about 11 hours later)
A gunman who opened fire on a rival at a neighborhood block party in Brooklyn, killing one and injuring 11 others, was arrested late Wednesday, the police said. The crowd of thousands that had gathered for the 56th annual Brownsville Old Timers Day in July had dwindled down to hundreds — it was nearly 11 p.m. — when trouble started.
The man, Kyle Williams, 20, was taken into custody on murder and other charges in connection with the July 27 mass shooting that turned the Brownsville Old Timers Day block party into a blood bath. Two groups of Bloods gang members crossed paths on the edge of the community playground where the event was winding down, the police said. They started arguing, and according to police, two of them pulled out guns and started firing at each other, killing one man and wounding 11 bystanders who were fleeing the melee.
Mr. Williams lived about a half-mile from the Brownsville Playground, where police said he shot and killed Jason Pagan, 38, before turning the gun on a dispersing crowd. The wounded victims, who ranged in age from 21 to 55, were struck in the back, legs and head as they fled. The case went unsolved for nearly three months until Wednesday, when investigators arrested Kyle Williams, 20, on murder charges in connection with the fatal shooting of Jason Pagan, 38, the police said. Deputy Chief Michael Kemper, a detectives commander in Brooklyn, said Mr. Williams confessed to firing a 9-millimeter pistol 10 times during the dispute.
Shell casings from the scene indicated that two shooters exchanged gunfire during the episode, the police said. “We know this with certainty,” Chief Kemper said. “His gun is the murder weapon that killed Jason Pagan.”
In addition to murder, Mr. Williams also faces charges of attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. He was expected to be formally charged on Thursday in criminal court in Brooklyn. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. Mr. Williams had no prior criminal history, the police said. Investigators were building a case to arrest a second man who fired a .40-caliber pistol five times at Mr. Williams’s group during what Chief Kemper said was a chance encounter. The two groups, he said, “don’t like each other.”
In a Twitter post, Dermot F. Shea, the chief of detectives, said the arrest followed “an extensive investigation.” Chief Kemper said Mr. Williams was a self-described gang member, and a police official later confirmed he identified as one of the Bloods. Mr. Pagan was also a Bloods gang member who had been released from prison six months before he was killed, the police said.
The police did not immediately offer a motive for the shooting, but officials have described it as a gang dispute. Mr. Pagan was a Bloods gang member who was released from prison six months before he was killed, the police said. Partygoers had been singing the O’Jays’ “Family Reunion” at the annual homecoming event before the shooting. The gunshots shattered a tradition that had protected the event from violence since it began in 1963 and sent elders with canes and parents cradling toddlers scrambling to escape the paths of the 15 bullets. Victims, who ranged in age from 21 to 55, were struck in the back, grazed on the head and in one case saved by a bra strap.
Partygoers had been singing the O’Jays’ “Family Reunion” at the annual homecoming event before the shooting started. Mayor Bill de Blasio, holding a news conference at the scene, lamented the violence at a gathering that had long been “an example of everything good about Brownsville.”
The episode jolted a city where crime has declined, but where gunplay between rival gangs has wounded or killed more than a dozen bystanders since June, the police have said. It was the first instance of violence at the event in its 56-year history. Latrice M. Walker, a native of Brownsville who represents the neighborhood in the State Assembly, said at the time that the shooters had broken a code — an unspoken pact to avoid violence at the event, which she said symbolized the predominantly black neighborhood’s resilience. It was the first instance of violence at the homecoming in its 56-year history.
Mayor Bill de Blasio drew criticism from his fellow Democrats in Brooklyn for initially refusing to label the crime a mass shooting. He later capitulated to local officials and community leaders who said the designation was important to draw empathy and resources to a neighborhood that has made strides in reducing crime but still needs help. Outraged, neighborhood residents led investigators to the suspects, the police said. Investigators got a big break in the case at the beginning of the month, when tips submitted through an app helped them to identify two women associated with the gunmen, Chief Kemper said. Police released photos and video of two women two weeks ago and doubled the reward for tips to $20,000.
Mr. Williams was one of at least two men that the police were seeking in connection with the shooting. Chief Kemper said that investigators pored over ballistics, social media and video with help from victims and witnesses in the neighborhood. In the week after the shooting, one resident had led investigators to a house where they found the second gun, he said.
The police did not immediately say how they found Mr. Williams. His arrest came two weeks after the police increased the reward for tips from $10,000 to $20,000, and released photos and video of two women wanted for questioning in connection to the shooting. “They’ve been with us from Day 1 up until right now,” he said.
Mr. Williams was arrested on Wednesday afternoon in East Flatbush. In addition to murder, he also faces charges of attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. The police said prosecutors are likely to add charges for each victim struck by his bullets.
Mr. Williams was expected to be formally charged on Thursday in criminal court in Brooklyn. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
In an interview with investigators, Chief Kemper said he “gave a full confession to his actions that night, and admitted to firing the gun that killed Jason Pagan.”
The episode jolted a city where crime has declined, but where gunplay between rival gangs has wounded or killed more than a dozen bystanders since June, the police have said.
Mr. de Blasio drew criticism from his fellow Democrats in Brooklyn for initially refusing to label the crime a mass shooting. He later gave in to local officials and community leaders who said the designation was important to draw resources to a neighborhood that has made strides in reducing crime but still needs help. In spite of the shooting, crime has continued to fall in Brownsville, according to police data.
The city pledged to spend $9 million in the aftermath of the shooting to renovate a neighborhood community center, to support violence prevention programs and to install cameras and lighting around the playground.
Until recently, Mr. Williams lived about a half-mile from the crime scene in a townhouse on Bristol Street.
He grew up in a West Indian family that has lived in the house since the early 1970s, its matriarch, Irma Alexander, said in a telephone interview. The police had come looking for him on Wednesday, but Ms. Alexander said the investigators had not told her they believed he was one of the shooters at Old Timers Day.
“I’m sorry for him, a young boy like Kyle,” she said.
Ms. Alexander said she last saw Mr. Williams two weeks ago on Sunday, when he visited with his older half brother, Jorrell Lacroix.
Jorrell Lacroix’s father, Joel Lacroix, had accepted Mr. Williams as his son and reared the two boys together, she said. Mr. Lacroix died in 2017 from kidney failure after an unsuccessful transplant, she said. After his father died, Mr. Williams dropped out of high school, she said.
His neighbors said Mr. Williams enjoyed playing soccer in the street and dominoes on stoops. He also often carried grocery bags for the block’s elderly residents.
A man who has lived on the same block as the family since 1967 said Mr. Williams came from a “church family.” In fact, there is a church inside their two-story, four-unit townhouse, according to the man, who declined to give his name.
The man said he throws an annual block party, where Mr. Williams was a fixture, standing in front of his building, grilling chicken. When the man built a shed in his backyard over the summer, Mr. Williams helped.
“He’s a nice kid, this is a shock right now,” the man said. “He has always been all right, he has never been in trouble.”
Late Wednesday, detectives went to Mr. Pagan’s mother’s house to tell her they had arrested his killer at last, Chief Kemper said.
“It’s justice,” he said.
Nate Schweber contributed reporting.