Shooting In Crown Heights Leaves Three Dead, Two Police Officers Wounded

NEW YORK – A wild shooting in Brooklyn has left two gunmen dead along with an innocent victim.

Police say Denise Gay, 56, was caught in the crossfire between Leroy Webster and Randy Johnson. Gay was sitting on a stoop talking with her daughter when she hit.

“Johnson and Webster got into a dispute. Why? We’re not certain,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

“Me and my roommate heard shots,” said Kendra Zimmerman, a Crown Heights Resident. “We live right over here on the block and we thought it might be fireworks or something.”

Officials say Webster, a career criminal with a long rap sheet, shot and killed Johnson. After killing Johnson, police say Webster opened fire at responding officers. One was grazed by a bullet, the other was struck by bullet fragments. Police say the officers returned fire, striking Webster in the neck. He staggered a short way, bleeding profusely and died.

The two officers are expected to recover. One was grazed in the arm.

“It was a senseless murder and I think another painful reminder of what happens when elected officials in Washington fail to take the problems of illegal guns seriously,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The shooting caps a particularly violent Labor Day weekend in New York City: 42 people were shot in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

Kelly said some of the shootings over the weekend were incidents related to the West Indian Day Parade, which has been the scene of fatal shootings in 2003 and 2005.