A man was fatally shot at a Bronx park early Thursday, police said — the same place a teenager was gunned down earlier this summer.
NYPD officials said officers found 26-year-old West Farms resident Ronell Marte in Starlight Park near East 174th Street shortly before 3 a.m. with a gunshot wound to his chest. Emergency medical workers took him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Marte lived less than a half-mile from the park. They did not immediately release a description of a suspect.
In June, 17-year-old Darrell Harris was shot and killed in Starlight Park after an argument over a water-gun fight on one of the hottest days of the year, according to police and news reports. The NYPD has still not made any arrests in that case, according to officials.
The Bronx has experienced a series of high-profile deadly gun violence in recent weeks, but police data through August shows shootings and homicides in the borough were down 17% and 13%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Shootings in the 43rd Precinct, which includes Starlight Park as well as the neighborhoods of Soundview, Castle Hill and Parkchester, were up by two incidents and homicides were down by one incident.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the department is deploying 1,000 additional officers to the Bronx to patrol the areas where gun violence has been the most prevalent, at the times it’s most likely to occur.
This is a developing story based on preliminary information from police and may be updated.
To learn more about gun violence patterns across New York City over the last five years, check out Gothamist’s street-level shooting map.