Thomas Abreu scooter riding gunman goes on shooting spree in Brooklyn and Queens, killing one, injuring three within half hour in random shooting spree. No known motive.
A scooter-riding gunman that terrorised the streets of NYC over the weekend has been charged with murder after randomly firing gunshots at pedestrians, hitting and killing an 86 year old man along with injuring three others within the space of half an hour.
Thomas Abreu, 25, of Brooklyn was taken into custody by police on Sunday and charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder and and six counts of criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly shooting four people the day before.
A 9 mm handgun with an extended magazine and a scooter were recovered.
4 shot, one fatally within 30 minutes at six locations within 8 miles
‘I remember waking up in a pool of blood and people around me – blacked out and woke up here I the hospital,’ said Cesar Martinez according to ABCNY7.
‘I remember waking up in a pool of blood and people around me – blacked out and woke up here I the hospital,’ Martinez added.
Martinez, one of three individuals who incurred gunshot wounds at the hands of Abreu remained in hospital with a bullet still lodged in his shoulder.
The sole fatality was identified as 86 year old man, Homod Ali Saeidi.
The shootings began around 11:10 a.m, Saturday morning, when the suspect, who was on a scooter reportedly shot a 21-year-old man in the shoulder near the intersection of Ashford Street and Arlington Avenue, Brooklyn. He was brought to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in stable condition and is expected to survive, police said.
(2023 #NYC) Thug Thomas Abreu, 25, took a motorbike on a shooting spree, seeming to target people he thought were White. Three people were injured and Hamod Ali Saeidi, an 86yo immigrant from Yemen was killed.#BlackonWhiteViolence #BlackViolence https://t.co/4ht7DxU31z pic.twitter.com/vgokIttOSd
— Anti White Watch ☀️ (@AntiWhiteWatch1) July 10, 2023
Random shootings – was there a correlation between victims shot?
Seventeen minutes later, Hamod Ali Saeidi, 86, was found with a gunshot wound to his back in front of 108-19 Jamaica Avenue in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. Saeidi was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he later died.
Shortly afterward in Queens, witnesses reported a man on a scooter firing randomly into a group of people standing at the intersection of 108th Street and Jamaica Avenue, although nobody was hurt.
At 11:35 a.m. at Hillside Avenue and 126th Street, a 44-year-old man was shot in the face. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in critical condition.
Just two minutes later at Jamaica Avenue and 134th Street, a 63-year-old man was shot in the right shoulder. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital medical Center in stable condition.
No known motive
Police later discovered there was a sixth shooting incident. At 11:36 p.m. a 40-year-old man was standing at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 131 Street when gunfire was discharged in his direction. The suspect then fled the location. The victim was not injured in the gunfire.
Abreu was arrested two hours after the first victim was shot, having shot at six different locations after traveling 8 miles in two boroughs according to the New York City Police Department.
‘My heart is broken, my family is all devastated,’ Ahmed Alsaedi, the son of the 86 year old fatal victim told they nypost. ‘We can’t believe something like that would happen to an 86 year-old man. It’s terrible.’
Saeidi ran three or four miles every morning without fail according to his family.
NYC SHOOTINGS: Thomas Abreu, 25, of #Brooklyn, has been charged with #murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. (📹: NBC) https://t.co/jK57Dbc0lN pic.twitter.com/v4dAq8HEva
— News12BK (@News12BK) July 9, 2023
Ghost gun equipped with extended magazine
Then he went to the local park before heading to his mosque to pray, the man’s son said.
That’s what he was doing Saturday morning when Abreu rolled up behind Ali Saeidi as he walked along Jamaica Avenue sidewalk and shot him.
Police sources said Abreu employed a 9 mm ‘ghost gun‘ equipped with an extended magazine during the shooting spree.
Abreu is alleged to have casually driven though Brooklyn and Queens when he randomly targeting people as they walked by.
By the time cops arrested him, he’d shot four people — including Saeidi, whose demise was caught on a surveillance tape.
In search of the American Dream
He apparently only had one prior arrest — a 2019 arrest for a traffic violation.
Alsaedi son said his dad had come to America from Yemen in 1962 for a better life and fresh opportunities.
After he established himself, he brought the rest of his family over.
The father-of-six worked as a farmer, owned grocery stores and dabbled in real estate before he retired, his son said.
The retired father was supposed to go back Yemen next week for a family trip according to the son.
Instead, his family will bury him in Spring Valley, New Jersey, following his funeral in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon.
