A woman out to celebrate J’Ouvert before the street fest officially kicked off was fatally gunned down, her guy pal is fighting for his life after also being struck by gunfire and another man was stabbed during an attack in Brooklyn early Monday, police and law enforcement sources said.
The assault was reported to police just before 3 a.m. on Newkirk Avenue, near Flatbush Avenue – about two miles away from the official J’Ouvert route, according to the NYPD.
When cops arrived they found the woman identified by sources as 50-year-old Wanda Rodriguez shot in the torso, a 45-year-old man identified by sources as Felix Avila with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso and a 27-year-old man who was stabbed in the torso, authorities said.
Rodriguez died at the scene and the two men were rushed to Kings County Hospital in critical condition, according to police.
But police officials said Avila was still fighting for his life Monday afternoon
Sources said the victims were involved in a large dispute when the suspect starting shooting.
“My daughter [called] me at 2 in the morning and say they shot her! Oh, my God!” a family member told The Post. “I wanted to walk up the block to see for myself!”
Another relative said the group was readying for the J’Ouvert festivities in the neighborhood before the incident.
“She’s really into J’Ouvert. They go every year,” the woman said. “That’s what was going on on that block…It got a little wild last night. That’s a wild block.”
She added that Rodriguez “was laying in the street for four hours.”
“Her mother was screaming and they wouldn’t let her go near the body. They wouldn’t let her go near the body. They wouldn’t tell her anything,” she said, adding, “That block is no good.”
One resident said he heard the bullets ring out.
“I heard pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! So many I thought it was fireworks. They emptied the clip, it just kept going,” the local, only identified at Rodney, 60, said.
“They always party on this block for J’Ouvert, at least the last 23 years I’m here,” he said.
The attack happened about three hours before the annual dawn street fest officially kicked off, and at least one local blamed the Caribbean celebration that is historically marred by violence.
“It’s nonsense,” the crying neighbor, only identified at Katty, said at the scene.
“They have to stop J’Ouvert,” she said. “Too much.”
It was unclear what sparked the violent encounter.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
Another Brooklyn shooting was reported to police about 50 minutes later.
In the second, separate incident, a 23-year-old man was shot near Weirfield and Irving avenues in Bushwick, cops said. He was taken to Wyckoff Hospital, where he died.
Additional reporting by Joe Tacopino and Natalie Musumeci
