A 27-year-old man shot to death outside a Brooklyn NYCHA complex in what cops are investigating as a possible road rage clash was delivering pizza when he was murdered, his family told an Indian news outlet.
Gurdeep Singh was shot seven times in the chest and torso during a confrontation on Crescent St. near Stanley Ave. outside the Pink Houses in East New York about 9:55 p.m. Friday, cops said.
Singh’s bullet-ridden body was found near his moped, a police source said. Witnesses told police the shooter fled the scene in a black Lexus, sources said.
Surveillance video obtained by ABC7 New York shows two men fighting in the street before gunshots ring out, and a vehicle swerves around the moped, appearing to flee the scene.
Singh immigrated to the U.S. from Kapurthala in Punjab in northwestern India 10 years ago and worked delivering pizzas to support his family back home, his father Pyara Lal told the Indian Express.
“We had taken a huge loan to send him abroad, and even after all these years, the debt has not been fully repaid,” the father told the outlet.
His uncle told the Indian Express Singh was unmarried and planned to visit his family back in India next year. He has a brother who still lives in Kapurthala and takes care of the family there.
Singh was living in Richmond Hill, Queens, with his cousin, who told the family that Singh was delivering a pizza when he was attacked, according to The Indian Express.
Neighbors told the Daily News they were shocked by the slaying.
“Damn, I just saw him a day before,” said Herjinder Singh, 24, who is not related to the victim. “It’s crazy … I spoke to him and he just left for work.”
The victim had only lived at his current home, a two-story brick and wood house with multiple apartments, for a couple of months, Herjinder Singh said.
“He was a very nice guy. He was very quiet. He didn’t talk too much to other people,” he said. “He just go to work, come back.”
The victim delivered food for a fried chicken restaurant and would typically walk to work, neighbors said.
The victim’s landlord described him as a “very nice person,” who was “respectable” and “patient.”
The family has appealed to the Indian government for help bringing Singh’s body home to Punjab, the outlet reported.
So far there have been no arrests and the investigation is ongoing, according to police.
The 73 Precinct, which includes Brownsville, had seen four homicides this year through Aug. 16, NYPD stats show, compared to three by the same point last year. But shootings in the precinct are down 31% so far this year, with 18 victims through Aug. 16 compared to 26 in the same time frame last year.
Citywide, shootings and murders have reached historic lows this year including in July a record 29-day streak in Brooklyn without a single homicide.
