NYPD: Brooklyn boy, 13, was returning from Nets game when he was fatally shot

A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed while returning home from a Nets game in Brooklyn on Thursday night, police said – becoming the city’s youngest victim of gun violence so far in 2024.

NYPD officials said Troy Gill was on his way back home from a basketball game at the Barclays Center when he was shot multiple times around 10:40 p.m. near the intersection of New York Avenue and Bergen Street in Crown Heights. He collapsed a block away, just steps from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and five minutes from his home. Police didn’t say if he was alone.

First responders took him to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead. Police made no immediate arrests.

Gill’s family and neighbors struggled to process the news at his building on Friday morning, as NYPD officials investigated the scene nearby.

“Troy was 13. He’s a baby,” said upstairs neighbor Nichelle ‘Nature’ Davis, who said she’d watched Gill grow up. She was especially distraught by his death because her own son was murdered in the street in 2008.

“Everybody should be concerned. ‘Cause if it happened to a 13-year-old…” Davis trailed off. “But bullets have no names. I don't know what happened. His mom don't know what happened.”

Dana Queen was visiting her father on the block where Gill was shot and said she heard what sounded like gunfire, but wasn’t sure until police descended on the street on Thursday night.

“It could have been anybody’s child,” she said. “There's too many shootings, too many guns out here, too many kids getting shot for no reason. It doesn't make any sense.”

Four other people have been shot and killed in Crown Heights this year, more than any other neighborhood in New York City, according to data from the NYPD compiled by Gothamist.

Nazim Berry, 37, was fatally shot after a dispute over a Black & Mild cigar about a mile from where Gill was killed.

And Lamine Bah, 33, was fatally shot at his home on Wednesday, just a few blocks from where Berry died.

Police said it was unclear whether any of the incidents were related.

Queen and Davis both said they feel like the neighborhood isn’t as safe as it used to be.

“Every time I come out here, it's something,” Queen said. “I'm scared to speak to people now because you never know what could happen.”

Queen said she feels like a combination of increased police patrols and more working surveillance cameras could help reduce violence.

Davis said the community needs to bring back the youth programs that existed when she was growing up.

“They had boys clubs, girls clubs. All of that stuff they took away. There's no place for them to go. They're in the street alone, left for the streets, for whatever,” she said.

A total of 26 New Yorkers have died of gun violence so far this year, according to police data compiled by Gothamist.

Brooklyn has had a total of 12 fatal shootings in 2024 so far – more than any other borough.

This is a developing story and has been updated with additional information.