Teen mom and baby daughter vanish after tiff in NYC park: cops
Maria Castro Escalante, 17, got into a dispute with her own mother before she took off with little Catalina Escalante, 1, police sources said.
They were last spotted around 9 p.m. Monday inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park, about 3 miles away from their home, authorities said.
Advertisement
Maria Castro Escalante, 17, vanished with her 1-year-old daughter Catalina after a family dispute, cops and sources said.
NYPD
The NYPD released a photo Tuesday night of the runaway teen mom holding her daughter in her arms.
Maria is described as about 5-foot-1 and 180 pounds, last seen wearing a black dress and black shoes.
Advertisement
Her baby daughter was last seen wearing a pink shirt and a diaper.
Both were still nowhere to be found Wednesday.
The missing mother and daughter were last seen Saturday night in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, cops said.
Edmund J Coppa
No criminality was immediately suspected in their disappearance.
Advertisement
Anyone with information on the missing mom and daughter is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crimestoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
2 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Man killed after trying to stop thieves from stealing his car in South L.A., authorities say
A 41-year-old man was fatally shot while trying to protect his car during an attempted theft in South Los Angeles, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department said. Deputies responded to reports of a gunshot victim Saturday at about 9:20 p.m. in the 8000 block of South Hooper Avenue in unincorporated L.A. County. They found two wounded men in a nearby alley. One of them had been struck by gunfire in the upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene by the L.A. Country Fire Department. The other man was taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg. Investigators learned that the men heard their car alarm go off in the alley where it was parked and spotted three people trying to steal the vehicle. When the men confronted the thieves, a fourth individual, who was standing near the alley's entrance, opened fire on them. One of the men returned fired in apparent self-defense, the Sheriff's Department said in a release. The thieves fled westbound on East 81st Street in a newer-model red or burgundy four-door coupe, officials said. No suspects had been arrested as of Sunday afternoon. Anyone who has information that could help in the investigation is asked to contact the L.A. County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. To provide information anonymously, call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477, download the 'P3 Tips' mobile app on Google Play or the Apple store or visit the Crime Stoppers website.
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Fatal Brooklyn lounge shooting reignites NYC mayoral candidate clash over gun violence response
BROOKLYN, NY -- Zohran Mamdani told reporters on Sunday that the fatal shooting in New York City hours earlier was the latest example of the "scourge of gun violence" in the country's most populous city. New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that there were 12 victims, including three fatalities, in a suspected gang-related shooting at the Taste of the City Lounge in the borough's Crown Heights section. During a canvass launch event in the Prospect Park neighborhood, Mamdani told reporters that the incident is "yet another example of the scourge of gun violence that has taken hold across so much of our city." The New York City Democratic mayoral nominee noted that just three weeks ago, the city experienced its deadliest mass shooting in 25 years when a gunman killed four people in Midtown Manhattan before taking his own life. Mamdani called for investing "in the very kind of programs and services that have been proven effective at combating this epidemic" of gun violence, specifically scaling up what he referred to as New York's crisis management system. The mayoral hopeful said on Sunday that he is proposing 275% increased investment in the Department of Community Safety. Last month's Manhattan shooting propelled Mamdani's past comments, including those calling to defund the NYPD, to center stage in the race for Gracie Mansion. "My statements in 2020 were ones made amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd," Mamdani responded last month when a reporter asked if he regretted any of his prior comments. Mamdani has since walked back his stance on defunding police, but his competitors, including former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seized on such comments, telling CNN that Mamdani doesn't understand the "importance of NYPD." As details emerged on Sunday about the fatal shooting in Brooklyn, incumbent mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, claimed his administration has driven down crime by removing illegal guns from the streets. "What I can tell you, we will continue our aggressive pursuit to remove these illegal guns off our streets. Every single victim of violence, particularly gun violence, is one too many," he said. In a statement on X, Cuomo called the incident "another horrific mass shooting." "My heart goes out to the victims and to their loved ones. Public safety is, and always has been, Job 1. This isn't the time to defund or dismantle the police. We need more officers, not less, to keep our communities safe," Cuomo said, in an apparent political jab at Mamdani and his past comments. Meanwhile, the Republican mayoral nominee, Curtis Sliwa, CEO of the Guardian Angels, said his "thoughts are with the victims and their families after this latest shooting." "Cuomo's pro-criminal laws created this mess, and Mamdani's radical agenda would only make it worse. The status quo has failed. I'm the only candidate with the courage to restore law and order in NYC," Sliwa said in a statement on X.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Three dead, nine wounded in mass shooting at Brooklyn lounge
A gang-related gunfight inside a crowded Brooklyn lounge early Sunday left three men dead and nine people, including innocent bystanders, wounded, cops said. The mass shooting erupted inside the crowded Taste of the City Lounge on Franklin Avenue near Carroll Street in Crown Heights just before 3:30 a.m., cops said. 'We believe that there were up to four shooters involved in this incident. Our crime scene investigators have now recovered shell casings from multiple guns,' NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press briefing at City Hall. 'The shell casings appear to be from 9-mm and .45-caliber weapons.' 'We was just in there,' said clubgoer Marie Desir, a 40-year-old mother of two who fled the shooting. 'I heard a few gunshots and then … People on the floor, running, trying to save their life just like I did.' She said she hit the floor when the shots started. 'I ducked down and after that I found a way to get out,' she said. 'I laid down on the floor first and when I found a way to get out, I just got out because I was right there close to the door.' She returned to the club hours later because one of her friends, Guerby Tida, 32, went missing in the mayhem. He showed up at the curb, where his car was parked, midday Sunday, leading to an emotional reunion after Desir worried he was among the dead. 'I'm OK,' he told her. 'Thank god everything's good.' The shooting is believed to be gang related but Tisch declined to provide further details on motive, citing the ongoing investigation. An argument inside the crowded club led to the shooting, she said. Some of the victims are believed to have been involved in the clash while others are likely innocent bystanders. 'What happened in Crown Heights this morning was a tragic senseless act of violence,' Tisch said. 'The club did have bouncers, and we are working now to identify those bouncers and interview them.' Cops recovered a firearm close by the lounge near Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway that may be connected to the shooting, she said. Investigators are reviewing surveillance video and no arrests have been made so far. Rajawn Philips, 40, who works in the smoke shop next door, said he heard the shots and checked the camera feed from outside his store. 'I saw people running,' he said. 'I looked out the door. I saw the intensity of the running.' A 35-year-old man and a 27-year-old man died at area hospitals while a 19-year-old man died at the scene, Tisch said. Six men and three women were wounded but survived, the oldest 61 and the youngest 27, according to police sources. They were all hospitalized and are expected to recover. 'As you get to the door, you see shot victims,' said Philips, who left his smoke shop to check on the scene. 'A girl was shot in the face. This guy shot in the leg. Another guy out here this morning shot in the a–.' He saw medics doing CPR and chest compressions on patrons. It's the second shooting at the club in less than a year. A 28-year-old man survived being shot in the back and arm in front of the club about 4 a.m. Nov. 17, according to police. The victim told cops he was standing outside the lounge when two men he didn't know approached him and started arguing with him, cop sources said. One of them whipped out a gun and opened fire. In February, cops released surveillance footage of a suspect they were still looking for in that shooting and asked the public's help identifying him. Taste of the City Lounge serves Caribbean fusion cuisine and has a full bar with hookahs, DJs and live music. Philips said security at the lounge is tight but that's not enough to stop it from being a 'problematic place.' 'Every night it's some type of altercation so I'm surprised that three people died there but I'm also not surprised at the same time,' he said. 'This is not new. It's the normal.' 'Every single victim of violence, particularly gun violence, is one too many and last night's mass shooting reminds us all the work that we must continue to do,' Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday. 'This is the second (mass shooting) within weeks, and we don't want this to turn into a normal course of doing business.' On June 28, Shane Tamura opened fire with an assault rifle in a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper, murdering an NYPD officer and three others before killing himself. The violence comes as the city has seen significant drops in violent crimes through Aug. 10 compared to the same period last year, including a 24% drop in murders and a 21% drop in shootings. 'We have the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims seven months into the year that we've seen on record in the city of New York,' Tisch said. 'Something like this is, of course, thank God, an anomaly. And it's a terrible thing that happened this morning, but we're going to investigate and get to the bottom of what went down.' _____
