A 44-year-old man was shot to death at a Knicks block party in Brooklyn just a few minutes after the final buzzer of the NBA Championships, cops and neighbors said Sunday.
Emanuel “Manny” Spencer was shot multiple times during a clash just steps from his home on Lincoln Road near Flatbush Ave. in Prospect Lefferts Gardens about 11:40 p.m. Saturday, police said.
“His day was going good,” said the victim’s younger brother, who declined to give his name. “Everybody was just watching the basketball game, relaxing.”
Medics rushed Spencer, a father of four, to Kings County Hospital but he could not be saved.
“He was a gentle person. Laid back. Family man. Liked to spend time with his daughters,” the brother said. “He loved everything. He loved sports. He loved music.”
Signs of an outdoor party, including chairs, a table covered with red plastic cups and barbecue grills, littered the street behind the police tape hours after the slaying.
“They were doing this every night of the Finals,” said a 44-year-old neighbor on the block who declined to give her name. “I would never expect this. It’s very sad.”
No arrests have been made and no motive immediately established in Spencer’s slaying, cops said.
Spencer has several robbery and narcotics arrests in his past, a police source said, and most recently a March 2024 reckless endangerment bust.
Another neighbor said she stepped out of her apartment building after the win to see a throng of happy revelers outside. The shooting, she said, seemed to come out of nowhere.
“I heard probably like two or three (gunshots) and then the crowd running,” she said. “When I was out there I heard the fireworks, the gunshots, and I grabbed my child and I went inside…. There were so many people. I don’t understand what the hell happened.”
Neighbor Burnett Coburn, 68, described Spencer as calm and respectful and said nothing seemed amiss when they spoke several times over the last week.
“What I know is a guy I loved and respected is no longer here,” he said. “That’s painful.”
Police arrested 63 people in and around Times Square after mayhem broke out after the Knicks’ historic win against the Spurs.
