An ex-convict and a 16-year-old boy have been arrested for shooting and wounding two teenagers near a Brooklyn high school, police said Wednesday.
Ousmane Diallo, 21, is facing attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting two 18-year-olds at a deli on 36th St. near Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, he said. police.
Police officers caught Diallo and the 16-year-old boy as they tried to escape on a city bus. The gun used in the shooting was found under one of the suspect’s seats, a police source said.
Diallo, a member of the Crips gang, lives in Crown Heights, police said. He is on probation for an August shooting in Brooklyn.
The boy, whose name was not released by police because of his age, was charged with possession of weapons.
The victims were hanging out inside 952 Deli and Express, across the street from PS 371 Lillian L. Rashkis High School of Sunset Park, where they regularly come to buy snacks, according to the store manager.
While the victims were first believed to be enrolled at Lillian L. Rashkis High School, police said Wednesday that no one involved in the shooting was linked to the school.
“The gunman came in and started shooting. He didn’t say anything,” Damag Sufyan, 32, a deli manager, told the Daily News on Tuesday. “It was like fireworks”
“One of the kids dove on the counter,” he added. “The other one was walking around bleeding. They were yelling, ‘I got shot! They shot me! Call 911!”
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Each victim was shot in the shoulder and treated at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn.
Workers at the deli said the victims had argued with other teens near the deli on Monday.
Arraignment of the suspects was pending in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Wednesday.
The incident was the latest in a worrying wave of youth violence that led Schools Chancellor David Banks to call the situation a “state of emergency” in January.
He has argued that the schools themselves are safe, and attributes the rise in crime to after-school conflicts.
Last month, the city assigned additional police officers to cover schools, along with nearby bus stops and train stations, at dismissal time. Precinct commanders were told to meet weekly with principals to discuss “important issues” and the policy was reiterated in a later call with school leaders.
Last year, 157 victims under the age of 18 were killed or injured by gunshots, an increase of 15% compared to 2021, when not all students had returned to school buildings after the pandemic-era lockdown, they show. New York police data.