3 killed in hours
Stabbing and two shootings as weekend begins
Two fatal shootings and the stabbing murder of a Harlem woman kicked off a bloody weekend across the city as cops begin to gain some ground on the war to reduce gun violence, NYPD officials said Saturday.
The weekend’s violence began about 8:15 p.m. on Friday when a gunman fatally shot a 25-year-old man at point-blank range during a clash in Brooklyn, police and horrified witnesses said.
Victim Isaiah Bowman was just steps from his home at the Breukelen Houses, a public housing complex on E. 108th St. near Glenwood Road in Canarsie when the suspect stormed up and opened fire, witnesses said.
“He walked up and shot him in the chest,” said one neighbor, who wished not to be named. “He was faceup when I got to him. He wasn’t moving and then they started pumping his chest.”
EMS rushed Bowman to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died.
A sole flip-flop and a bag of groceries — both believed to be Bowman’s — were found at the shooting scene . “It’s crazy out here,” the neighbor said. Two hours later in Washington Heights, cops were called to the W. 144th St. home of 79-year-old breast cancer survivor Lanilda Nuez, and found the woman bleeding out in her bedroom.
Nuez was repeatedly stabbed in her chest and torso, police said. Two bloodstained knives were found near her body.
EMS rushed her to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, where she died.
Her estranged husband, Geraldo Balbuena, was found in the apartment and was taken into custody for the killing, police said.
Balbuena, 68, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, cops said.
Friends and relatives remembered Nuez, whom they often called “Nina,” as a bold, sometimes salty woman who had no problem expressing her opinions.
“She was funny. She used to curse everyone out,” her grief-stricken granddaughter Chanill Arashiro, 30, told the News. “She was spicy. And that’s what everyone loved.”
“Everybody here considered her their grandmother,” Arashiro said, breaking down in tears. “She always had a room available if [someone] had nowhere to go.”
Investigators believe Balbuena attacked her during a fight. The two were separated but still lived together. They never argued, said one neighbor, who wished not to be named.
“He killed her for no reason,” the woman said. “She didn’t deserve that. She was a good lady.”
The bloodshed continued at 3:30 a.m. in the Bronx when a 21-year-old man was gunned down outside a park down the block from his home.
Cops responding to a report of shots fired outside Walter Gladwin Park at the corner of Arthur Ave. and E. 175th St. about 3:30 a.m. found Delijah Farmer sprawled out on the ground, shot in the chest.
EMS rushed Farmer to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.
A motive for the slaying was not immediately disclosed, and no arrests have been made. Farmer lived on Crotona Park North, just down the block from where he was shot.
Cops were scouring the area Saturday looking for surveillance footage that could help them identify the shooter.
Despite the bloodshed, the NYPD says that they’ve seen a marked drop in both shootings and homicides this year.
As of Friday, cops had investigated 183 homicides, 20 less than the 203 reported last year.
Police responded to 554 shootings, 58 fewer than the 612 reported this time last year.