New York Post

DeBLOODY B’KLYN

19 shot, & many blame mayor

- By C.J. SULLIVAN, KEVIN SHEEHAN and BRUCE GOLDING

Brooklyn residents said Sunday that they fear the return of the bad old days of “Crooklyn” — and placed the blame squarely on Mayor de Blasio — after a bloody weekend in which at least 19 people were shot in the borough.

The carnage included nine revelers struck by bullets at a house party, a teenager shot during a driveby, and a man fatally gunned down in a housingpro­ject courtyard — all in an hourandaha­lf period early Sunday.

That followed eight people being shot in six hours Friday into Saturday.

“I locked the door and ran into the back when I heard shots,” said Mahdi Alabdi, 52, who works overnight in a deli across the street from the bulletridd­led East New York house party. “I never did this before. I do it a few times now.”

Nursing aide Anne Gordon, 25, who also lives near the scene, seconded the sentiment.

“This was never the best area, but it has gotten worse out here since this new mayor,” she said. “He seems out of touch.’’

Lifelong borough resident Richard LaTorre, 55, fumed that former Park Sloper de Blasio “left Crooklyn for Manhattan with his entourage of bodyguards and SUVs.”

“He has his protection from all this. What about the rest of us?” LaTorre said.

In ProspectLe­fferts Gardens, where a 15yearold boy was shot in the stomach during a multicar driveby attack, a neighbor who was nearly caught in the hail of bullets said the area is on the decline after years of improvemen­t.

“This is supposed to be a nice, safe neighborho­od now,” said Patrick Desravines, whose apartment overlooks several storefront­s and cars that got hit.

A 42yearold woman who lives in Kensington tied the worsening situation to de Blasio’s curbs on the NYPD’s stopandfri­sk practice.

“I have teenagers, and it scares the crap of me,” said the woman, who only gave her first name, Ellen. “You have to watch yourself more than you used to.”

Cops guarding de Blasio wouldn’t let reporters get near him at a parade in Queens, but a spokeswoma­n said Hizzoner “takes very seriously each incident and has directed NYPD to beef up its presence in these areas.

“Overall crime is going down, but Mayor de Blasio will continue to be diligent about preventing crime and locking up criminals,” press secretary Karen Hinton added.

Additional reporting by Dana Sauchelli, Tom Wilson and Amber Sutherland

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