Murder scars Brooklyn nabe
Before coronavirus shut down businesses in Sunset Park and wiped away foot traffic along Seventh Ave., this patch of Brooklyn was a safe spot, certainly not the kind of place where a man would get killed defending a robbery victim, residents said.
But here they were Wednesday, friends, family, strangers, united in grief over two deaths: the killing of a Good Samaritan trying to break up a fight outside a gambling den, and the demise of neighborhood safety and relative peace of mind.
“I’m just kind of surprised that something happened here,” said Chris Bittmann, 20, who works for New York Life and moved to Sunset Park with his girlfriend a year ago because of its reputation for safety. “The people around here are good people. There’s been a spike of crime during COVID, but it hadn’t really reached this area. I moved here because it was safe here.”
Shi Quan Lin, 28, has lived in the neighborhood 20 years. He can count on his thumbs the number of times he has walked by a crime scene.
“We don’t really have murders here,” he said. “Because of COVID, no one is really on the street so they see an opportunity. Usually at that hour, there are tons of people walking around.”
The hour he referenced was the moment Friday night when the do-gooder, Yong Zheng, was stabbed to death with a screwdriver during a wild caught-on-camera melee. Cops said Zheng was returning from dinner with friends when they saw two groups of men fighting outside an illegal gambling den, and intervened.
Mourners filled the intersection where Zheng, 46, staggered across the street and finally collapsed, filling the avenue with candles and white flowers. Crying family members kneeled beside a barricade that closed off traffic and held pictures of a smiling man they called father, son and hero.
Jessica Gao, 38, a restaurant worker who has lived in Sunset Park for 15 years, said she didn’t know Zheng, but joined the crowd to pay her respects.
“He’s a Chinese hero,” Gao said. “He tried to help the Chinese people, and the other people killed him. Now the community is not safe at all. Our kids grow up here. It’s not safe for our kids.”
Cops arrested William Smith, 45, of Brownsville, on Sunday and charged him with murder, robbery and assault. Cops tracked him down after a witness took a picture of his license plate and gave it to police, sources said.
Local residents spoke of the rise in attacks in the city against Asian Americans, but police have not classified the incident as a hate crime. The community agrees Zheng’s death was a tragedy. Of that there is no dispute.
“Mr. Yong Zheng is a typical good Samaritan,” said Yu Lin, a City Council candidate. “He is someone that can represent every single one of us. A good father, a good son, a good friend to have. This happened to him. That means it could happen to every one of us.”