2 gunmen kill 2 rappers in apartment bldg. hallway
A rapper’s dream of fame was snuffed out in a hail of bullets in the Bronx.
Joel Baba, known as JayGunz, was killed when a pair of killers opened fire in the Bronx on Sunday. A collection of candles now rest on a sidewalk outside the apartment building where the 22year-old was slain during an explosive night of violence across the city.
“He was really talented. He was a good kid, a really good kid,” a neighbor, who did not wish to be identified but said he was friends with the victim’s family, told the Daily News. “He just put out [a music] video last week.”
Jay-Gunz was killed along with Eghosa Imafidon. The 27-year-old was also a performer who grew up in the Bronx and had been rapping since “we were young,” said a friend, who declined to give a name as he poured pink Moet over the candles set out as a memorial.
Others mourned Imafidon on social media.
“That boy E was a great kid, not perfect but was a genuine great kid,” Marcus Jacobs wrote on Facebook. “I love my boy to the moon and back. My heart is broken.”
“I have no words left Im so sorry this happened to you my friend all I have is tears,” Fatoumata Diallo said on Facebook.
A third man was also wounded in the shooting, which was captured on surveillance video (top) released by authorities Monday.
The incident was one of several deadly shootings that turned Sunday into one of the city’s most violent days in recent years.
As the haunting video begins, three men are seen standing in a hallway in an apartment building on E. 171st St. and College Ave. in Claremont, police said. As one person looks down a stairwell, he suddenly turns to run.
Moments later, a person in a white shirt emerges from the stairs and shoots at the three, the video shows. A second later, another gunman appears from around the stairwell.
Wearing a dark hoodie and shorts, he approaches the three and starts shooting. He moves closer to the victims, who are trapped at the end of a hallway, as one of them struggles to open an apartment door. The third victim, in a red shirt, lays curled up in a fetal position on the dirty white tiled floor.
The video shows the gunman move in close, stepping around a kid’s bicycle, to fire several more rounds.
The gunman in the stairwell with the white shirt appears briefly again, before taking off, the video shows. The second gunman then also flees.
Both Baba and Imafidon were pronounced dead at BronxCare Health System. A 29-year-old victim was shot in the arm and taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition, according to police. No arrests have been made, and cops released the video in hopes of identifying the suspects.
The Bronx bloodshed was among several horrific shootings around the city the day after the nation celebrated its birthday.
Anyone with information about the suspects in the Bronx apartment building shooting is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All information is kept confidential.