Children at a Crown Heights playground were caught in the crossfire of bullets Friday morning, sending an area school into lockdown — although witnesses and police say no children or other bystanders were injured.
Police said they’re looking for three suspects wearing ski masks who fled the scene on foot.
NYPD officials said the shooting happened just before 9 a.m. across from Stroud Playground on Park Place, near Washington Avenue.
The playground is adjacent to P.S. 316, on a residential block. Officials have reported at least two other daytime shootings at or near the playground since September 2024.
Neighborhood resident Ricky Camilleri said he was near the swings with his 2-year-old son and another toddler he was babysitting when he saw some teenagers in ski masks acting strangely — peering into the playground bathroom while another group of teens were inside, then running away.
“They just looked like they had purpose of some kind,” Camilleri, 41, told Gothamist by phone Friday afternoon. “So I was like, ‘OK, we're going to get out of here.’”
As Camilleri went to put the toddlers in their stroller, he said, the teens who were inside the bathroom came out and spotted the group of teens in ski masks across the playground.
“ They started saying, ‘Who is that?’” he said. “Then the kids with the ski masks just started shooting at them, and in shooting at them, they were basically shooting at me and my kid.”
Camilleri said he jumped on top of the toddlers to cover their bodies.
“I started screaming like a maniac 'cause I was terrified,” he said. “ It's hurtful to feel like they just did not care that there were two 2-year-old boys right in the line of sight of their weapons.”
“ He was saying, ‘Dadda scared, Dadda crying.’ And then he said, ‘ball pop.’”
Both groups of teenagers ran away, Camilleri said, and police quickly swarmed the playground.
Police said they believe the shooters were all male, but could not provide a further description or estimate of their ages.
NYPD data through Nov. 2 shows shootings in the 77th Precinct, which covers the northern part of Crown Heights, have dropped about 46% this year compared to the same point last year. Citywide, shootings have decreased roughly 23% year over year.
But those stats do little dispel fears in the surrounding neighborhood.
Camilleri said the close call sharpened his awareness about how easy it is to get caught in the crossfire. Although he said the toddlers were pretty “stoic” throughout the incident, he wonders how much his son will remember about the traumatic episode.
“ He was saying, ‘Dadda scared, Dadda crying.’ And then he said, ‘ball pop.’” Camilleri recalled. “So he was there.”
For more information about shooting incidents across the five boroughs, check out Gothamist’s gun violence map.
