The niece of Mayor Adam’s gun violence prevention czar was among the six teens wounded in a mass shooting outside a Sweet 16 birthday party at a Brooklyn event space.
It is a miracle his 15-year-old niece survived three gunshot wounds, including one that went straight through her chest, said A.T. Mitchell-Mann, who was appointed to the city’s top anti-gun violence position by Mayor Adams in 2022.
“The doctors have called her a miracle. [The bullet] went through and out without hitting any bone, any arteries or major organs, so thank God,” Mitchell-Mann told the News. “It’s just unfortunate. It’s just unfair. But we’re now realizing that we’re just very glad that she’s alive. That she survived. That they all survived.”
Two gunmen opened fire on a crowd of partygoers that had just filed out of Burbuja Events on Atlantic Ave. near Ashford St. in Cypress Hills as the birthday celebration ended about 1:15 a.m., cops said.
“[My niece] told me she was waiting for her Uber. Then all of the sudden she heard sounds that sounded like pops. She thought it was the balloons being popped from inside,” Mitchell-Mann said. “The party was over. They were cleaning up and they were popping the balloons. So she related it to that sound until she realized that she’s seeing a lot of people running. It was a shock to her.”
Police investigate after six teenagers were shot and wounded outside a party at a Brooklyn event space early Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
A second 15-year-old girl was shot in the leg. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the left arm, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the right arm, another 16-year-old boy was blasted in the left foot and a 17-year-old boy was struck in the right leg, cops said.
“The exact motive is currently unknown but appears to be gang-related,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday.
In addition to the bullet that passed through her chest, Mitchell-Mann said his niece was struck in the left knee and in her waist.
After perfoming surgery on Monday night to repair shattered bones in the victim’s knee, doctors at Brookdale University Hospital are now waiting for swelling to go down to assess how well the surgery went, Mitchell-Mann said.
“Her knee area, one of the bullets really shattered her bone and everything,” he said. “That’s a serious injury. It’s gonna take some time.”
Police investigate after six teenagers were shot and wounded outside a party at a Brooklyn event space early Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
On top of the physical wounds, Mitchell-Mann’s niece is struggling mentally.
“She’s extremely traumatized,” her uncle said. “She’s never experienced something like this before. She’s one way one minute, she’s another way another minute. She’ll go into deep depression, she’ll go into deep anxiety,”
“She’s just trying to understand, which is hard for anybody to understand,” he added. “There’s no reason why somebody would do such a vicious thing.”
The night had started innocently.
“Young girls, they dream of a sweet 16. It’s a big deal for young girls. And so she was there to support her friend. It’s a good girlfriend [of hers],” the uncle said. “Nobody could expect this. This wasn’t something they saw coming, it was normal life… She was doing everything that normal young girls, 15, 16 year olds do, and wanted to just be like everybody else.”
Police investigate after six teenagers were shot and wounded outside a party at a Brooklyn event space early Sunday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Earlier on the day of the shooting, the niece found out she made her school’s dance team.
“She was excited about that,” her uncle said. “Now she can’t even fulfill that desire that she had, at least not right now, because of her leg injury..
“She loves to dance and do other things and now she really has to work harder. And she will, she’s very resilient and she’s very strong,” he added. “She’s got a lot of support around her, her family, her friends. So we’re optimistic.”
Mitchell-Mann is the founder of violence prevention and intervention organization Man Up Inc. His brother, the wounded girl’s father, also works for the group, directing a hospital response program for gunshot victims at Kings County Hospital.
“Her dad worked there for many, many years and never could have imagined seeing his own child on a gurney with gunshot wounds,” Mitchell-Mann said.
William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit
A.T. Mitchell-Mann is pictured with Mayor Adams at a press conference in 2022. (William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit)
“It’s never hit this close to home before in my 20-plus years of being on the front lines and working with so many other different families of victims of violence. I hospital respond, I violence interrupt, and I do everything. I’ve never experienced this personally, like my own relative. This is my 15-year-old niece. I was there when she was born. I watched her grow up. The thought of her even possibly being taken away from us was very traumatizing for me.”
Mitchell-Mann’s organization not only works with victims as they rehabilitate from gun violence but also with the people who might pick up a gun, in hopes of deterring them before they pull the trigger.
“We try to make sure that we reach them where they are and we work hard with them to convince them that gun violence is not how you resolve conflicts. We’ve got a lot of success,” he said. “But we obviously have not reached everybody and we can’t convince everybody to do the right thing.”
After Sunday’s shooting, the two gunmen ran off and have not been caught. The pair of shooters were dressed all in black, police said.
“I would tell them to turn themselves in,” Mitchell-Mann said. “Turn yourself in and face up to their responsibilities, because the life that they have chosen to live is not a productive life … Nothing is worth trying to shoot and kill somebody.”
All five of the other victims are in stable condition, cops said. Medics rushed three of them to Brookdale University Hospital, and the remaining two victims went to Kings County Hospital.
“We’ve seen [the other victims] at the hospital and we’ve talked with their families,” Mitchell-Mann said. “The families are outraged about the attempt to try to hurt these innocent young people. These are kids.”