The Crown Heights Cronicle on Last Nights Shooting

Shooting Closes Montgomery Street near Bais Binyomin Synagogue

September 13, 2005–An elderly man was shot outside his home at 676 Montgomery Street just off Kingston Avenue this evening, after a younger black man, reportedly a relative, opened fire at approximately 8:45 p.m. The incident occurred next door to the Bais Binyomin shul, between Kingston and Albany Avenues. The shooting caused Montgomery Street to be roped off near Kingston Avenue for 2 Ѕ hours, as police searched for shell casings and other evidence.

Sigalit Zigelboum and her 13-year-old son, Yoni, were walking along Montgomery Street when they heard 6-7 shots ring out and people begin screaming. “We ran like crazy,” said Mrs. Zigelboum. “We ran to a Jewish house in the middle of the block and started knocking on the door, but nobody answered. A man wearing a black cap and a black and white T-shirt came running like a maniac,” she reported. The man pushed Yoni Zigelboum out of the way as he passed, and the youngster took cover and, crouched on his knees, called police from a cell phone. Three more shots were heard.

Another witness was in his house a few doors down from the shul when he heard the first series of gunshots. He looked outdoors and saw the shooter running right past his home. The attacker stopped in the driveway shared by Bais Binyomin and the victim’s house, and, according to the eyewitness, “I saw him take aim and – boom, boom, boom – he fired three shots. I thought he was just shooting at the door, but then I saw the owner of the house on the ground in a pool of blood.”

Shneur Goodman, 20, a yeshiva student from Kfar Chabad, was in Sunshine Pharmacy on the corner of Kingston and Montgomery at the time. He ducked behind a car and “saw the shooter running towards Kingston Avenue. He crossed Kingston with his gun in his hand and ran along Montgomery Street.” Mr. Goodman said police caught the fugitive on Montgomery Street between Kingston and Brooklyn Avenues.

The victim’s name is unknown as we go to press, but records show that 676 Montgomery Street is registered to Stultz Spencer. The victim was reportedly wounded in the arm and taken to a local hospital.

A minor commotion broke out about a half hour later, when a bystander apparently tore down the yellow crime scene tape behind which police were working. The man fled along Kingston Avenue toward Empire Boulevard, but was chased and arrested by some 10-15 police officers.