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Brooklyn Man Charged With Attempted Murder in July 4 Family Shooting
Robert Smith, 44, faces multiple counts of attempted murder after a masked gunman opened fire on a family cookout in Coney Island on Saturday night. Eight relatives were wounded, including four children.
Jul 8, 5:18 PM·1m read1 source
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Robert Smith, 44, was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder in connection with a July 4 shooting that wounded eight members of one family at a Coney Island park in Brooklyn, nypost.com reported. The shooting occurred Saturday night during a family July 4th cookout. A masked gunman clad in black opened fire on the group before fleeing, nypost.com reported.
Four of the wounded were children ages 6, 7, 12 and 14. The 6-year-old sustained a stomach wound while the others suffered gunshot wounds to the legs. The remaining wounded family members were ages 21, 25, 33 and 37.
Smith was arrested at his home in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning, nypost.com reported. He has at least one prior gun arrest in Brooklyn from 2012. Carlene Pearsall, grandmother of the 6-year-old, spoke near the crime scene with Mayor Zohran Maamdani present.
“They shot our babies,” Pearsall said. “This is senseless. Our kids did not deserve that. Son, you did absolutely nothing. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s babies. It has to stop. ” Police have not stated a motive for the shooting, though sources indicated it could be gang related, nypost.com reported.
