JOY TO TRAGEDY
Bx. man leaves party, shot dead on way home
A 36-YEAR-OLD Bronx father was shot to death leaving a party down the block from his home early Saturday, cops said.
Keith Pinckney was celebrating with friends on Davidson Ave. near W. 176th St. in Morris Heights when he said he was going to step outside for a few minutes around 2 a.m.
Less than half an hour later, the father of two, nicknamed Rell and Slaughter, was found sprawled out on the sidewalk near the party and his home, shot in the head and chest.
Medics rushed him to Saint Barnabas Hospital, but he could not be saved.
Cops roped off the sidewalk where Pinckney fell, marking off a large blood stain and a black baseball cap.
“He’s going to be well missed,” said Yolanda Rosado, a childhood friend. “He was a joker. He was always joking and wanted to make people laugh.”
Rosado, who lives on the block where Pinckney was shot, was awoken by police emergency lights.
“I looked out the window and he was already taken to the hospital,” she said. “I had no idea (it was Pinckney). I just woke up to this bad news. It was like a dream you can’t wake up from.”
No arrests had been made by Saturday night, police said.
“He was a loving, caring beautiful soul with a beautiful smile who’s been in this neighborhood for 30 years,” a relative who declined to give her name said. “He didn’t deserve this.”
Neighbors said Pinckney was a gang member — but good to the people around him.
Pinckney had been arrested 38 times over the years, mostly for drug and marijuana possession, cops said.
“We used to always chill, hang out on the block,” said 14-year-old neighbor Chris Torres. “He wasn’t a troublemaker at all. He always kept it low-key. He wasn’t a bad gentleman at all . . . He helps other people who need help.”
The killing comes as the NYPD marks a 24% drop in homicides citywide for the year. And shootings across the five boroughs are down 22%. As of Thursday, 647 people had been hit by gunfire this year, compared to 832 by this time last year, cops said.