Posted on 01/17/2004 11:57:38 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
wo men opened fire during a robbery at a Brooklyn diner early yesterday, wounding seven diners and a busboy and pistol-whipping a teenager before fleeing with cash and jewelry, the police said.
Detectives said they had counted more than 20 shell casings inside and outside the Galaxy Diner at 805 Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York, from at least two pistols, a .45-caliber and a 9-millimeter, but surprisingly, most of the people struck had suffered relatively minor injuries to their hands, arms or buttocks. Two men shot in the head suffered mere graze wounds.
The shootings took place shortly after 5 a.m. yesterday as about 30 patrons were eating breakfast at the 24-hour diner, which has a retro space motif.
One patron, Jaytee Spurgeon, 37, of East New York, said he was eating French fries after a night of drinking at a strip club and was chatting with one of the Galaxy's unarmed security guards when "all hell broke out."
"We heard one shot, and turned around and looked, and pop, pop, pop, pop," Mr. Spurgeon said. "I didn't know it was a robbery until three people were shot already."
Another patron, Melissa Boban, 22, was eating breakfast with three friends after a co-worker's 30th-birthday party. When the shooting began, they all dove under their table, said Ms. Boban's mother, Irma Greo.
"One of the guys walked toward the table where they were hiding and started shooting at the table," Ms. Greo said outside the diner yesterday afternoon. "He shot four shots. One of the girls was grazed in her foot. A guy got shot in the hand. My daughter, she didn't know what happened to her."
Ms. Boban, a nurse's aide in Brooklyn, had been shot in the stomach and the bladder. She was the most gravely injured, but the police and her mother said her wounds did not appear life-threatening. She was listed in serious condition at Kings County Hospital Center yesterday.
At least one of the gunmen carried a pistol in each hand, firing both, witnesses said. The two men shouted profanities and declared that they would not leave until they had all the money and jewelry in the diner, Mr. Spurgeon said. "It was a straight stickup," he said. "I guess they thought there was a lot of money up in there."
One patron, identified as Jordan Clifton, 33, handed over $600 and was shot in the right hand, the police said. Another, Matthew Daniels, 17, of Brooklyn, was pistol-whipped and robbed of his earrings and wallet. But the robbers did not steal from the register, the police said.
"They said, `Let me see one of y'all move again.' Then you heard a couple gunshots," Mr. Spurgeon said. This time the busboy, 39, was shot, the bullet grazing his head.
Mr. Spurgeon said he dove under his table as the gunmen noticed the security guard and shot the guard in the leg. A second shot misfired, jamming the gun, but as the guard ran out the front door, one of the gunmen fired rounds from his second weapon, Mr. Spurgeon said. The security guard did not seek medical attention for his wound, and he is not included in the police tally.
Mr. Spurgeon was shot in the buttocks. "I was on the floor," he said in a phone interview after being treated for his wounds. "I was laying on my mink coat. I didn't want them to see it." He said he handed over what was left of the $450 he had taken to the strip club. "I'm like, `You ain't got to kill me for the money, man,' " he said.
The police said a 911 call came from inside the diner, and Mr. Spurgeon said he was the caller. "I was on the floor talking to them while the shooting was going on," he said. "The lady said, `Are those gunshots?' "
Detectives were examining videotape taken of the shootings from surveillance cameras in the diner, a law enforcement source said.
The two gunmen fled through the diner's front door. One of them tried to enter a McDonald's next door, an employee there said.
"We heard gunshots," the employee told a reporter for WINS-AM. "We had to leave the drive-through area because bullets were flying. One individual who was trying to get away came to the McDonald's door and tried to force his way in, but the door was locked, thank God."
Detectives picked through the wreckage of shattered glass and splintered tabletops at the Galaxy yesterday, and found a bloody cap outside in the snow. The sisters of one victim, Roy Williams, 29, of Brooklyn, arrived to pick up his car. They said Mr. Williams had been shot in the arm and buttocks.
Councilman Charles Barron, who visited the scene from his office nearby, said witnesses told him that at least one customer had pretended to be dead.
Mr. Spurgeon said that after the mayhem was over, he recognized a friend in the crowd. The back of his head had been grazed by a bullet, and after bandaging the wound, doctors told the man to go straight to church to give thanks that the shot had not been an inch off, Mr. Spurgeon said.
"They've got no respect for human life," Mr. Spurgeon said of the gunmen. "The money they got wasn't worth shooting us."
The - it's not so bad - air about the article surprised me. If this was in fly-over country, they'd be screaming for gun control and counseling.
How true.
A suggestion?
Why didn't the patrons shoot back in self defense?
Their best crime fighter, Rudy G., is gone.
Sorry if I stepped on some toes. My opening remarks were aimed at the politics of reporting.
You been to Brooklyn lately? I think we already have!
Yes! There should be a drop box at the door where everyone can put their money and valuables and then all this unncecessary violence can be avoided.
How true.
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