
Teen, 17, shot dead in Bronx park during water fight as heat wave grips NYC
A 17-year-old hanging out in a Bronx park was shot dead as he playfully doused parkgoers with water during Tuesday's massive heatwave, police said.
The gunman got away, leaving two 9-mm shell casings behind following the shooting inside Starlight Park near the corner of Sheridan Blvd. and E. 173rd St. in Crotona Park East.
The killing took place as the city baked under a horrendous heat wave. Temperatures in the Bronx on Tuesday ranged between 78 and 101 degrees, according to the website accuweather.com.
Victim Darrell Harris was inside the park at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday when he began throwing water around at other teens, witnesses initially told police.
A moment later, a man dressed in a black colored hoodie, black sweatpants, and a black ski mask charged at Harris with a gun.
Harris was shot in the head and right arm, cops said. Medics rushed him to Jacobi Medical Center, but he could not be saved. The teen lived in Longwood, less than a mile from where he was killed.
The gunman ran out of the park and was last seen heading north on Sheridan Ave. No arrests have been made.
Police were scouring the area looking for surveillance footage that would help them identify the shooter.

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New York Times
14 hours ago
- New York Times
17-Year-Old Fatally Shot in the Bronx After a Fight Over a Water Gun
A 17-year-old boy was fatally shot on Tuesday during an argument over a water gun fight that broke out in a Bronx park on one of the hottest days in New York City in over a decade, the police and the boy's mother said on Wednesday. The boy, Darrell Harris, was shot at least twice, in the head and in the arm, and died of his injuries on Tuesday night, according to the police. The shooter and another man involved in the altercation — neither of whom have been identified by the authorities — fled the scene, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the incident. No arrests have been made, the police said. The fatal shooting inside a city park comes days into a sweltering heat wave, which has blanketed the region since Sunday evening, driving temperatures toward the triple digits. The episode stemmed from an encounter at Starlight Park, beside the Bronx River, between Darrell and a group having a water gun fight, which suddenly turned violent, according to the law enforcement official. Darrell and a few friends had gone to the park to take refuge from the heat, according to his mother, Kellie Lewis. There, they encountered a group of people having a water gun fight with gel blasters, toy guns that shoot dissolvable gel pellets instead of water, according to the official. What began as a joyful summertime outing soon escalated into a bout of violence. A man from the water gun group, who has not been identified by the police, began shooting the pellets at Darrell, who grew angry, the official said. Darrell confronted the man, and the two began to argue and then physically fight, while a group of onlookers formed around them, the official said. Then, in a flash, Darrell charged at the man, and another man from the water gun group drew a firearm and shot him. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Teen, 17, shot dead in Bronx park during water fight as heat wave grips NYC
A 17-year-old hanging out in a Bronx park was shot dead as he playfully doused parkgoers with water during Tuesday's massive heatwave, police said. The gunman got away, leaving two 9-mm shell casings behind following the shooting inside Starlight Park near the corner of Sheridan Blvd. and E. 173rd St. in Crotona Park East. The killing took place as the city baked under a horrendous heat wave. Temperatures in the Bronx on Tuesday ranged between 78 and 101 degrees, according to the website Victim Darrell Harris was inside the park at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday when he began throwing water around at other teens, witnesses initially told police. A moment later, a man dressed in a black colored hoodie, black sweatpants, and a black ski mask charged at Harris with a gun. Harris was shot in the head and right arm, cops said. Medics rushed him to Jacobi Medical Center, but he could not be saved. The teen lived in Longwood, less than a mile from where he was killed. The gunman ran out of the park and was last seen heading north on Sheridan Ave. No arrests have been made. Police were scouring the area looking for surveillance footage that would help them identify the shooter.

Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Miami Herald
Altadena ICE raid highlights fears that roundups will stymie rebuilding efforts
LOS ANGELES - When ICE agents raided the construction site of a burned property in Altadena earlier this month, they made no arrests. The man they were after was not there. But the mere specter of them returning spooked the workers enough to bring the project to a temporary halt. The next day, half of the 12-man team stayed home. The crew returned to full strength by the end of the week, but they now work in fear, according to Brock Harris, a real estate agent representing the developer of the property. "It had a chilling effect," he said. "They're instilling fear in the workers trying to rebuild L.A." Harris said another developer in the area started camouflaging his construction sites: hiding Porta Potties, removing construction fences and having workers park far away and carpool to the site so as not to attract attention. The potential of widespread immigration raids at construction sites looms ominously over Los Angeles County's prospects of rebuilding after the two most destructive fires in its history. A new report by the UCLA Anderson Forecast said that roundups could hamstring the colossal undertaking to reconstruct the 13,000 homes that were wiped away in Altadena and Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7 - and exacerbate the housing crisis by stymieing new construction statewide. "Deportations will deplete the construction workforce," the report said. "The loss of workers installing drywall, flooring, roofing and the like will directly diminish the level of production." The consequences will spread far beyond those who are deported, the report said. Many of the undocumented workers who manage to avoid ICE will be forced to withdraw from the labor force. Their specialties are often crucial to getting projects completed, potentially harming the fortunes of remaining workers who can't finish jobs without their help. "The productive activities of the undocumented and the rest of the labor force are often complementary," the report said. "For example, home building could be delayed because of a reduction in specific skills" resulting in "a consequent increase in unemployment for the remaining workforce." Jerry Nickelsburg, the director of the Anderson Forecast and author of the quarterly California report released Wednesday, said the "confusion and uncertainty" about the rollout of both immigration and trade policies "has a negative economic impact on California." Contractors want to hire Americans but have a hard time finding enough of them with proper abilities, said Brian Turmail, a spokesperson for the Associated General Contractors of America trade group. "Most of them are kind of in the Lee Greenwood crowd," he said, referring to a county music singer known for performing patriotic songs. "They'd rather be hiring young men and women from the United States. They're just not there." "Construction firms don't start off with a business plan of, 'Let's hire undocumented workers,'" Turmail said. "They start with a business plan of, 'Let's find qualified people.' It's been relatively easy for undocumented workers to get into the country, so let's not be surprised there are undocumented workers working in, among other things, industries in construction." The contractors' trade group said government policies are partly to blame for the labor shortage. About 80% of federal funds spent on workforce development go to encouraging students to pursue four-year degrees, even though less than 40% of Americans complete college, Turmail said. "Exposing future workers to fields like construction and teaching them the skills they need is woefully lacking," he said. "Complicating that, we don't really offer many lawful pathways for people born outside the United States to come into the country and work in construction." The recently raided Altadena project had plenty of momentum before the raid, Harris said. The original house burned in the Eaton fire, but the foundation survived, so the developer, who requested anonymity for fear of ICE retribution, purchased the lot with plans to rebuild the exact house that was there. Permits were quickly secured, and the developer hoped to finish the home by December. But as immigration raids continue across L.A., that timeline could be in jeopardy. "It's insane to me that in the wake of a natural disaster, they're choosing to create trouble and fear for those rebuilding," Harris said. "There's a terrible housing shortage, and they're throwing a wrench into development plans." Los Angeles real estate developer Clare De Briere called raids "fearmongering." "It's the anticipation of the possibility of being taken, even if you are fully legal and you have your papers and everything's in order," she said. "It's an anticipation that you're going to be taken and harassed because of how you look, and you're going to lose a day's work or potentially longer than that." De Briere helped oversee Project Recovery, a group of public and private real estate experts who compiled a report in March on what steps can be taken to speed the revival of the Palisades and Altadena as displaced residents weigh their options to return to fire-affected neighborhoods. The prospect of raids and increased tariffs has increased uncertainty about how much it will cost to rebuild homes and commercial structures, she said. "Any time there is unpredictability, the market is going to reflect that by increasing costs." The disappearance of undocumented workers stands to exacerbate the labor shortage that has grown more pronounced in recent years as construction has been slowed by high interest rates and the rising cost of materials that could get even more expensive due to new tariffs. "In general, costs have risen in the last seven years for all sorts of construction" including houses and apartments, said Devang Shah, a principal at Genesis Builders, a firm focused on rebuilding homes in Altadena for people who were displaced by the fire. "We're not seeing much construction work going on." The slowdown has left a shortage of workers as many contractors consolidated or got out of the business because they couldn't find enough work, Shah said. "When you start thinking about Altadena and the Palisades," he said, "limited subcontractors can create headwinds." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.