Ashley Ballard, Harry Mendoza, Bryan Henriquez - Three Killed in One Night in Manhattan and Brooklyn

Two people were shot and killed two hours apart Sunday night in East Harlem, identified as Ashley Ballard and Harry Mendoza.

A third victim, Bryan Henriquez, 17, was also found shot dead in Brooklyn.

Ashley Ballard, 18, was shot in the head and back near East 128th Street and Lexington Avenue.

She was taken to Harlem Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Harry Mendoza, 25, was shot in the head and was also pronounced dead.

The victims died two hours apart.

Right now its unclear if the two victims knew each other.

Police are still searching for a suspect for the shootings.

“I heard two people got shot. I want my community to realize we can make it, have love in our community. We don’t need more shootings we don’t need more crime we need mental health. We need a lot of mental health counselors to help us deal with our frustrations in our community that’s what this is about,” said Harlem resident David Grant.

Residents nearby say they didn’t hear a loud argument or confrontation occur before the shooting. They only recall the loud gunshots.

“Looking out the window on the phone with my friend, I heard 4 to 5 shots and I yelled somebody’s shooting. I didn’t see no cops, didn’t see nobody running and that’s when I heard the sirens and stuff,” one witness said.

Ashley Ballard and Henry Mendoza East Harlem

ashley ballard harry mendoza shot east harlem

Cops responded to a call of a shooting near East 128th Street and Lexington Avenue in Harlem around 7:30 p.m. Sunday and found an 18-year-old woman shot in the head and back.

The young woman, identified as Ashley Ballard, was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later.

Authorities also found a 25-year-old man shot in the head.

The 25-year-old, identified as Harry Mendoza, was initially listed in critical condition but later succumbed to his injuries.

Brooklyn shooting

A third shooting occurred at East 37th Street in East Flatbush after cops were called for another report of gunfire.

There they found 17-year-old Bryan Henriquez shot in the neck and torso.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police searched the area of the shootings for shell casings and witnesses, even deploying a drone, but are yet to announce an arrest.

Anyone with any information on the shootings is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.

Related shooting

19-year-old kid Sean Mills was shot and killed by an unknown assailant during a party on Bay Shore, Long Island on Friday.

The party came off around 9 p.m on Friday, March 23rd 2024 at 1320 Ackerson Blvd. with approximately 50 people.

Neighbors told News 12 that the homeowner runs a day care out of the property and was having a farewell party to celebrate it being sold however, the party turned violent.

A shooting broke out and Sean Mills was fatally struck in the head. Another teen, a 17-year-old girl, was injured in the attack.

Sean Mills was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to his family, Sean Mills had big dreams – his room filled with past accomplishments and future goals.

One of his older brothers, James Mills, says he was well on his way.

“What he really wanted to do was become, you know, a fighter because he was good at fighting at that’s what he wanted to do. Like he was training in MMA,” he said.

James said his brother had been receiving some threats on social media and had only gone to the party because a flyer promoting it specifically stated that no weapons would be allowed.

“I don’t know how people like that are still walking around doing all these heinous, crazy acts,” his brother, James said.

He added a warning about attending house parties.

“If it’s a house party, don’t be going to no house party, because a lot of people that don’t like you would be there…there’s like all types people, you got no idea who they are, no clue who they are,” he added.

Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south.

The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west and north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.

Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands.

Harlem’s history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.

Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century, but African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the 20th century.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement.

With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly.

In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify.

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