Five people were shot when a gunman opened fire on a family near a Brooklyn, N.Y., park Saturday — and some friends suggested the gunplay was retaliation because one of the victims had gone to the cops about a milkshake tossed in his daughter’s face.
Ronaldo Pizarro, 45, was with his wife, Melody Amill, 37, his 22-year-old son and two other relatives near Hope Ballfield on Menahan St. in Bushwick when at least one man in a group of four ran over and opened fire, sources and witnesses said.
“I heard the gunshots,” said Ivet Hernandez, 46, who looked out the window as the group of young men, who were all wearing white T-shirts, ran away after the 2:20 p.m. shooting.
Pizarro took a bullet in his stomach, his wife was hit in the knee and Pizaro’s son Ronaldo Jr. was hit in the leg, sources and a relative said.
Pizarro’s 45-year-old aunt, Wanda Espinoza, was shot in her stomach and another relative, 62-year-old Manuel Rivera, was hit by a slug in his ankle.
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Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
A woman is in tears Saturday as she talks on the phone across the street from where witnesses say five people were shot in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
A friend of the family’s said that the shooting could have been in retaliation for the elder Pizarro going to police on Thursday.
His 18-year-old daughter was allegedly harassed by a group of young men while she was working a shift at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant, the neighbor said. The teen refused their advances before one of the men tossed a milk shake in her face.
Her father found out about the incident and filed a police report, the neighbor said.
Friends said that they suspected the young men found out about the police report and were seeking revenge.
“If the police can’t take care of us, we’ll have to start taking care of ourselves,” Hernandez said
