#Bronx Bloodshed At The BBQ,

#Bronx Bloodshed At The BBQ,
Six Wounded on The Grand Concourse
By David Greene

Five teens and one adult were wounded during an illegal midnight barbecue at Franz Sigel Park, in the Concourse Village section of the borough.

Police and EMS were called to the Grand Concourse and East 153 Street, at just after midnight on July 20. Arriving paramedics discovered three victims at the scene.

One victim was reportedly discovered across the street at 730 Grand Concourse and another victim was discovered at East 161 Street, across the street from Bronx Supreme Court. One victim removed himself to Lincoln Hospital.

Officials say the victims included five young men and one woman, five of the victims were teens and one victim was a 20 year-old man.

Police say a 17-year-old male was shot in the right knee, a 16 year-old was hit in the right leg and another slug tore through the forearm of another 16 year-old. The 20-year-old victim was shot in the left calf and the female victim was struck in the right thigh. A 14 year-old was also shot in the left foot.

All of the victims were being treated at Lincoln Hospital and Bronx Lebanon Hospital and none of the injuries were thought to be life-threatening.

Detectives were reportedly looking for the lone gunman seen running from the scene after the shooting. Sources say police had taken an unidentified 19 year-old male to the 44th Precinct for questioning, but that could not be confirmed.

Several trays of untouched food were left at the parks entrance across the street from Cardinal Hayes High School-- as the large crowd quickly dispersed when the gunfire began.

The bloody barbecue capped an end to another bloody weekend in which five people were murdered across the city, including two people shot dead in seperate shootings in the Bronx.

The shooting comes a month after 350 officers were taken off of desk duty and moved to street patrol as part of the"Summer All Out" program, which puts additional police officers in high-crime areas such as Concourse Village.

Police officials could not immediately say how many of the 330 officers were sent to the 44th Precinct.

One area resident claimed there was gunfire the night before at the local McDonald's and two weeks earlier a man was shot dead on Gerard Avenue. The resident added, "I stay away when they barbecue and this is why."

A second resident who slept through the gunfire, added, "There's always something going on in that park."

The park which closes at dusk, sits behind the Bronx Supreme Court and is named after German-born educator Franz Sigel, who taught in the New York City public school system and co-founded the German-American Institute.