Shot in row over car stuck in snow
A Bronx man was shot in the foot after he warned three men not to damage his car while they freed another vehicle from the snow, police said.
The incident happened early Monday outside an E. 167th St. apartment building near Tiffany St. in Foxhurst.
Harrowing surveillance video released Tuesday shows one suspect handing his pal a gun, who then blasts into the building lobby before running off.
The 46-year-old victim told police he was inside his home — where relatives said they were celebrating his birthday — when he heard noise around 1:10 a.m., looked out his window and saw the three men rocking a parked car back and forth, trying to break it free from the ice and snow.
The trio was getting a little too close to the victim’s car, so he stepped outside and confronted the men.
The argument turned heated, with the men hurling curse words at the car owner, despite his best efforts to de-escalate the conflict, a relative said.
“He was like ’Calm down. It’s not that serious,’” she added. “Out of nowhere, the other person came and
then started shooting.”
The wounded man was treated at St. Barnabas Hospital and released.
The relative, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said the incident escalated quickly. She said the victim and his family were inside celebrating his birthday when they heard a commotion outside.
“The guy was about to hit the car,” the relative said. “He went downstairs to ask him to move his car or something. The guys just started shooting.”
The victim cried out for help in the lobby and the relative rushed downstairs and came to his aid. She found him bleeding from his left foot.
“He was just laying there,” she said.
The victim, who works on cars for a living, will not be able to work for at least eight weeks, the relative said. The victim was only in the hospital for a day, but cannot get out of bed on his own, she said.
The relative said the family plans to pick up the party where they left off.
“We are going to celebrate even harder because he’s still here,” she said. “We can’t do much because of the pandemic, but we are getting him a cake as a happy birthday. We are just glad he’s still alive and that nothing crazier happened.”
According to police, the gunman was in his 20s with short black hair. He was wearing a light-colored hooded jacket and dark-colored pants, police said. One accomplice had on a light-colored sweatshirt, light-colored jogging pants and white sneakers. The third suspect was wearing a dark-colored jacket and dark-colored jogging pants.
All three were still being sought Tuesday.