A College student identified as Deniesa Murdaugh was saved from being shot dead at the Brookyn Block Party shooting on Saturday July 27, by her bra.
The shooting occurred before 11 p.m on day two of the popular block party, holding at a playground area of the Brownsville Recreational Center at the intersection of Christopher and Hegeman avenues in New York.
“We’re here because something happened that shouldn’t have happened,” Mayor de Blasio said at a press conference at the scene of the shooting Sunday. “What happened last night interrupted an event, the Old Timers’ event, that had been held successfully and peacefully for decades, interrupted a moment that up until that time had been an example of everything good about the Brownsville community.”
“I want to make really clear this tragedy does not define Brownsville, does not define the people of Brownsville, does not define what is happening on the ground in a community that has worked so hard and come so far,” he added.
About 2,000 people were in the area for the neighborhood’s annual “OldTimers” event and it was learnt that a total of seven men and five women were struck in the shooting. A thick brassiere however saved one of the party’s attendees as she was only grazed in the back by a bullet.
“When we turned around to run I heard two shots go off and I was hit in my back,” 21-year-old Murdaugh said.
“I was on the floor panicking. I couldn’t breathe. Everyone was surrounding me. My heart was racing. I was feeling faint. I couldn’t stand up.
“They said basically my bra saved me. If my bra wasn’t there, it would’ve went further into the skin.”
Police have made no arrests and are asking the public’s help in identifying and locating the shooters.
“If anyone has any video before the event, during the event, before the shooting, during the shooting and maybe after the shooting, please, please turn that over to us,” O’Neill said.