Slain at Bx. playground barbecue
A case of jet lag — and a knife-wielding attacker — nearly killed Maceo Brown.
The Massachusetts man, randomly stabbed in Prospect Park at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, was out walking through Brooklyn as he adjusted to the international time change after a weekslong visit with his European girlfriend, his mother told the Daily News.
“Clearly it was not a wise thing to do,” said mom Susan Revotskie, 72, as her son recovered Saturday from surgery at Kings County Hospital. “He’s kind of an optimistic person, and I think it just didn’t really occur to him that it could be dangerous ... He said he had jet lag still.”
Cops said the 37-year-old Brown was walking with a female friend on East Drive near the LeFrak skating rink when a bald-headed man appeared and plunged a knife into the victim’s chest before fleeing.
No arrests had been made, though police described the suspect as a Black man between 25 and 35 years old, wearing a dark hoodie and gray pants.
Revotskie sensed something was amiss when she didn’t hear from her son Thursday about his plans to take a bus back to the family home in Massachusetts. It turned out that Maceo, who lived in Brooklyn until about a year ago, left his cell phone in an Uber.
“We were all concerned that he kind of disappeared,” she said. “I started feeling dread. So I knew something was wrong ... I felt he was in danger, but we didn’t know until [Thursday].”
A brief phone call at 4:45 p.m. Thursday from her hospitalized son confirmed her fears, although the knife missed his major organs and Brown was expected to recover.
Brown had just spent several weeks visiting his girlfriend before returning to the city, with plans to crash at a friend’s house before boarding the bus north, said Revotskie.
The mother described her son as a former all-state soccer player in Massachusetts who became active in Democratic Party politics. He launched a solar energy business in Brooklyn before his return to the family home in New England, where he was overseeing major renovation work.
“He kind of throws himself into whatever it is he’s working on,” said Revotskie.
Brown remained hospitalized Saturday with a positive prognosis, according to family members. His mom is still shocked by the unprovoked violence directed at her son.
“If they tell you that someone has stabbed your child, it’s just a terrible feeling,” she said. “It’s incredible to me that he lived through it and that he’s recovering.”
A 34-year-old aspiring artist was shot and killed during a neighborhood barbecue at a Bronx playground early Saturday, following a night of bloodshed across the city, police said.
Victim Forestrd was with a group of people hanging out at the Eastchester Playground on Burke Ave. in Allerton — around the corner from his home — around 1:30 a.m. when a gunman opened fire.
Byrd (inset) was shot in the chest and left arm and died at Jacobi Medical Center, cops said.
The gunman ran off. No arrests have been made.
Empty wine boxes, liquor bottles and red Solo cups were still strewn around the park Saturday afternoon as detectives conducted their
Byrd got out of prison in January after spending 13 months upstate on a drug conviction, authorities said.
“I grew up with him. He was a good dude. He wanted to be a fashion artist, he drew all the time,” said one friend at the man’s home, declining to give his name.
He was one of four people killed in a 12-hour span overnight across the city, police said.
The bloodshed began at 6 p.m. Friday when 48-yearold Telmo Ruiz was stabbed to death during an argument in Washington Heights.
A few hours later, around 10:40 p.m., Shaiquan Wilson, 21, was fatally shot while watching a dice game outside a Bronx deli, about five miles away from where Byrd was killed.
A fourth murder victim was shot to death inside a Far Rockaway apartment building on Dix Ave. near Chandler St. around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, cops said.
As of July 26, cops have seen a 29% jump in homicides across the five boroughs, from 176 this time last year to 227, officials said. investigation.