Another Shooting- Man, 22 Killed After Fight On Bronx Playground Basketball Court

Half-Nelson Playground basketball court in the Bronx where a a dispute occurred that led to a shooting last night. A 22-year-old man was gunned down by a group of armed men, police said. Tashawn Murray, of Morris Heights, got into an altercation with several men at the courts on Nelson Avenue. The men walked away from the fight — only to return about 9 p.m. with guns. Murray ran about 200 yards, but the shooters hit him twice in the arm and once in the back, cops said according to DNAInfo. (Photo: Chelsia Marcius/DNAinfo)

An hour earlier a 24-year-old was shot in the left eye in Brooklyn, capping off a violent week in parks.

Neither the Bronx nor Brooklyn have a single dedicated Park Enforcement Patrol officer available for patrol in the evening for more than 11, 000 acres of parkland combined.

Bronx

A war of words at a Morris Heights basketball court turned deadly Thursday when a 22-year-old man was gunned down by a group of armed men, police said, according to DNAinfo.

Tashawn Murray, of Morris Heights, got into a beef with several men at the courts at Half-Nelson Playground on Nelson Avenue.

The men walked away from the fight — only to return about 9 p.m. packing guns, police said. Murray ran about 200 yards, but the shooters blasted him twice in the arm and once in the back, cops said.

Paramedics rushed to the scene and found a bloodied Murray in front of 1600 Nelson Avenue. He was taken Murray to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died, police said.

Henry Ramirez, 42, who lives on the block, said he heard the gunfire from his window.

"The poor guy was just playing basketball," Ramirez, who has lived in the building for two years, said.

Sadie Harkless, Murray's grandmother, visited a makeshift memorial set up in front of Murray's home at West Tremont Avenue.

"My relationship with him was very close," said Harkless, 61, adding that she raised Murray and treated him like a son. "That's my baby."

Tashawn Murray, 22, was shot and killed after a fight on a basketball court in Morris Heights on July 13, 2012. (Facebook via DNAinfo)

Friends gathered at the memorial — eight-inch votive candles placed in a cardboard box — to remember Murray, who they said was a recent graduate of Jane Addams Academic Success.

"Is this it? Is this all he gets?" said Starasia Dortch, 18, the first friend to arrive at the memorial. "He was a good boy. There's no one friendlier.

"I don't know what would make anyone to this to Tashawn," she added.

Police have not made an arrest, and the investigation is ongoing.

William Mayo, 52, who claimed to know Murray since he was a boy, said the young man got mixed up with the wrong crowd a few years ago.

"He was very well loved, but it wasn't a big surprise," he said, referring to the shooting. "He got involved in street life. When you do that, things happen."

Read More:

Man Killed After Fight on Bronx Basketball Court

DNAinfo - July 13, 2012 - By Chelsia Rose Marcius, Paul DeBenedetto

Man Shot In Eye In Evergreen Playground Basketball Court

A Walk In The Park - July 13, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft

Crime Wave Hits Coney Island Boardwalk - Lifeguard Station Torched

Destroyed lifeguard station. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge.

Brooklyn

Coney Island’s fabled beachfront just got hit with a huge wave -- a crime wave.

Authorities are investigating a recent string of at least five seaside crimes at lifeguard stations and other city Parks Department-run facilities, including burglaries, vandalism and a suspected arson, according to the New York Post.

The boardwalk’s main bathroom facility at Stillwell Avenue – which came under fire in July after the Post busted workers rationing toilet paper there – was closed for days for repairs before recently reopening after saboteurs on Nov. 18 cut a series of electrical power lines and wires under the boardwalk, causing a loss of power.

Charred lifeguard equipment.

The late-night incidents began Nov. 2 – weeks after the boardwalk’s season ended -- when a burglar cut open secured gates at a West 22nd Street lifeguard station and spray painted the walls and lockers inside, NYPD sources said.

Two days earlier on Nov. 16, burglars cut through a locked door at a boardwalk utility room on West 5th Street and stole 30 feet of electrical wire, which can be sold for big bucks because of the copper inside, NYPD sources said.

The next day a suspicious boardwalk fire broke out at lifeguard station and bathrooms at West 33rd Street. It took 60 firefighters to put out the blaze but not before the most of the station and its rescue equipment were destroyed.

FDNY sources said someone cut a padlock to get in and that fire marshals are investigating it as arson.

On Nov. 4, a burglar attempted to break into a West 16th lifeguard station but failed to pry open a locked gate.

Geoffrey Croft of the watchdog group NYC Park Advocates blamed the crimes on a lack of cops and peace officers assigned to monitor beaches and other parkland – especially overnight.

“There’s no enforcement of our park facilities, and it is worse overnight,” he said.

The Parks Department says it is working with NYPD to address the vandalism.

Read More:

Coney Island cyclone of crime

New York Post - November 28, 2011 - By Rich Calder and Doug Auer