Brooklyn man, 37, dies after being ambushed in his car in broad daylight and gunned down execution-style in the street

A Brooklyn man who was sitting in his car on Tuesday afternoon was shot twice execution-style from close range by a gunman before collapsing and succumbing to his wounds, according to police.

Ricardo Pena, 37, of East Williamsburg was in his gold Kia sedan on Bushwick Avenue near Powers Street in Williamsburg when he was shot in the face by a gunman just before 2:40pm, the New York Daily News reported.

A wounded Pena then got out of his car before the gunman fired another shot, investigators told the Daily News.

Pena, who had blood pouring from his face and neck, collapsed just outside of a local laundromat.

Ricardo Pena, 37, of East Williamsburg was in his gold Kia sedan on Bushwick Avenue near Powers Street in Williamsburg when he was shot in the face by a gunman just before 2:40pm

The gold Kia sedan is seen in the center between the other two cars on Bushwick Avenue on Tuesday. Blood stains could be seen in front of the laundromat (top left) where Pena collapsed

Witnesses reported hearing two gunshots sometime before 2:40pm on Tuesday afternoon

Blood stains were seen on a white car nearby as it appeared Pena tried to support himself as he stumbled in the final moments of his life.

First responders rushed him to Woodhull Hospital, but he eventually died of his wounds.

‘There were two shots,’ Dan Moran, 33, an eyewitness, told the Daily News.

‘One, and then another 10 seconds later.

‘He was rolling around on the ground in front of that white car. His blood is on it.’

Moran added: ‘He was bleeding from his face and neck. He was gasping pretty hard for air.

The New York Police Department has not made any arrests as of Wednesday morning. Investigators are reportedly looking through surveillance footage

‘Then the police came and put him on a stretcher, and were trying to revive him with an oxygen bag.’

Pena’s younger brother, Chris Pena, told the Daily News: ‘He was my brother. He was always a good big brother.’

‘He wanted me to learn from his mistakes.’

Chris Pena told the Daily News that his brother had a record of previous arrests.

‘He was kind and had a big heart,’ he said.

‘We don’t know who would do this to him.’

So far, no arrests have been made. Police are pouring through surveillance video in hopes of getting clues that may lead them to a suspect.

Locals who knew Ricardo Pena say he installed windows and glass doors. 

Violent crime has been on the upswing in New York City since the COVID-19 pandemic as well as racial tensions, triggered by police-involved deaths of black people in other parts of the country, have upended normal life this past spring.

Over the weekend, two people were fatally shot and 12 others were wounded in several incidents that took place in The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. 

Five shootings involving seven people took place on Saturday while another seven were injured from gun shot wounds on Sunday. 

Tyrell Williams, 26, was shot dead in a street fight on Sunday morning and left a trail of blood before he collapsed near a Citi Bike Station around 1.20am in the East Village, reports said. 

Police told DailyMail.com that two groups of men were embroiled in a dispute on the corner of E. 13 St. and Avenue A.

One group approached the other, and New York Daily News reports that it soon became a physical altercation. An unidentified suspect then reportedly pulled out a gun and opened fire into the crowd of men. 

Williams took a bullet to the chest. He was transported to Mount Sinai Beth Israel, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Christopher Pastor told NYDN that he was grabbing a bite to eat Sunday morning when he heard a loud noise. He ran over to the scene and spotted a big pool of blood outside of a restaurant on Avenue A.

'He had blood all over his mouth. His eyes were open, not breathing,' Pastor told the publication. 'You could tell that he was deceased.'

'EMS started to give CPR. They checked for pulse. He had no pulse,' he added.

Authorities roped off the crime scene, where Williams' white sneakers were still strewn across the street corner, NYDN reports. 

Hours earlier around 11pm on Saturday, another 26-year-old man was shot in the head in Hudson Heights, Upper Manhattan. He was found unresponsive on Post Ave. and was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. 

Tyrell Williams was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in the early hours of Sunday morning in the East Village  

Christopher Pastor told NYDN that he was grabbing a bite to eat Sunday morning when he heard a loud noise. He ran over to the scene and spotted a big pool of blood outside of a restaurant on Avenue A 

Police told DailyMail.com that two groups of men were embroiled in a dispute on the corner of E. 13 St. and Avenue A. An unidentified suspect reportedly pulled out a gun and opened fire into the crowd of men

The weapon was recovered at the scene and a 28-year-old man was taken into custody, the New York Post reports. 

The violence began with a Friday shooting in the Bronx on 174th Street and Ward Ave and spilled into the weekend.

A 36-year-old man was shot in the leg during a dispute at Movie Star Cuts barbershop on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens on Sunday around 12.45am. However police said he would not cooperate.

Around the same time in Brooklyn, a 25-year-old man was shot in the nose.

Around 1.50am on Sunday a man was shot in the lower back on Union Street in Brooklyn but police say the victim was 'highly uncooperative.'

Sunday after 5am a 27-year-old man was shot in the neck and chest while driving around 149th Street and Southern Boulevard.

On Sunday morning around 5.30am in the Bronx, a 29-year-old man was hit in the stomach during an incident in the lobby of 1985 Webster Avenue.

Crime in New York City continued to climb, according to the NYPD CompStat.

As of October 4, there has been a 36.2 per cent increase in murders in 2020 than in 2019. There have been 346 murders this year, compared to 254 recorded last year. 

Shootings have also soared from 729 in 2019 to 1,442 shootings to date in 2020. 

Murders in New York City rose 79 percent last month compared to last year, and shooting incidents soared 127 percent, according to new NYPD crime statistics.

The citywide crime stats released on Friday show that New York's summer crime wave continued into September, as the city continues to grapple with a disturbing rise in violence.

Tensions in the city remain high after months of coronavirus lockdowns, economic misery and unrest in the streets, causing petty disputes to frequently escalate quickly into violence. As well, police say that gang violence has been a major factor in the rise in shootings.

Murders in New York City rose 79 percent last month compared to the same month last year

There were 152 shooting incidents across the city in September, compared to just 67 such incidents in the same month last year

There were 152 shooting incidents across the city in September, compared to just 67 such incidents in the same month last year, a 127 percent rise, the data shows. Over the first nine months of 2020, shootings were up 91 percent. 

Also last month, there were 51 murders in New York, compared to 29 in September of last year, an increase of 79 percent.

Through September 30, there were 344 murders in the city, compared to 246 murders in the first nine months of 2019, an increase of 40 percent.

Burglaries also rose an alarming 38 percent in September, and were up 42 percent for the year through September 30.

Overall, index crimes rose just 2 percent in September, with the rise in shootings and murders counter-balanced in part by declines in hate crimes (down 33 percent so far this year) and reported rapes (down 19 percent in September).

Police say that sex crimes continue to go under-reported, and urge victims to come forward by contacting the NYPD Special Victims Division.  

Anyone with information can call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).