'Snitch.' Family of 78-year-old killed in Mott Haven asks for community's help to find shooter
Polce say Edgar Spence was sitting in his wheelchair, when a bullet meant for somebody else hit him in the stomach.
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The family of 78-year-old Edgar Spence, who was killed while sitting in his wheelchair outside the Mitchel Houses last Thursday, is now asking for the community's help to find the killer.
"My frustration is beyond explanation," said Spence's son, Michael Reid. "My family has been robbed of an opportunity to see our family another day."
After growing up in the area, Reid now lives in Virginia. He drove up after hearing what happened.
"The first thing I saw when I got into the hotel room was the news of my father," he said.
According to the NYPD, Spence, who was known as "the grandpa of the community," was sitting outside, eating candy by a bench around 10:30 p.m., when a bullet that was meant for somebody else hit him in the stomach.
"At 78, we expected to bury him of natural causes, not of a gunshot - especially a stray gunshot you didn't even earn," Reid said.
Police tell News 12 there have been no arrests, and they have not released any information about a suspect.
"I spoke to the detective who was supposed to be in charge of this case," Reid said. "Very minimal information, very minimal has been done up to this point as far as I know."
At a press conference Monday, the family asked why.
"I would like that same energy if they were talking about a police officer being shot," Reid said. "My father was no different. He was still a father. He was still a provider."
Reid and his family are asking for the community to step up now, with local activist Rev. Kevin McCall putting up $5,000 for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
"Somebody knows something - but somebody is not saying anything," McCall said. "Tell. Snitch. Because seniors and children are off limits."
"How would you feel if it was your loved one, and I did not share," added Reid.
Reid also asked that the NYPD make the area safer by putting more officers on patrol outside the Mitchel Houses, especially since the 40th Precinct building is directly across the street.
