Army Sergeant Dies As 4th of July BBQ Ends in Cold Blood

For many, 4th of July weekend is a time to gather with friends and family to laugh, drink spirits, barbecue, and gaze in awe as the night sky lights up with the explosion of fireworks. For some families in Brooklyn, NY this weekend, their barbecues were ended unexpectedly by the sound of different explosions; gunshots. In two seperate and unrelated incidents, gunshots were fired into crowds of barbecue patrons at 4th of July barbecues in Brooklyn this weekend, killing 2 and wounding 5 others.

Saturday afternoon, a 26 year-old Army Reserve Sergeant who has been with the military for nearly eight years, took two bullets to the chest as he stood on the porch of a friend's Brooklyn home. The gunshots sent screaming partygoers and children dashing for cover, witnesses said. The soldier was standing on the porch with his new girlfriend, whom he had been dating about a month, when her former lover - and father of her child - passed in front of the house. "He was walking up and down," a witness said. "He saw them together, grabbed his gun and shot him. He said nothing at all. No warning, no anything." A bystander, an unidentified 27-year-old woman, was also hit in the leg by a stray bullet.

Later that evening, a young woman was killed and four other people were seriously injured when bullets tore through a crowd gathered in a Brooklyn courtyard for a Fourth of July weekend cookout. All the people who were shot were innocent," said a man who was at the party. Witnesses said they heard dozens of gunshots and believed they were coming from different directions. Police sources said they are investigating whether there was more than one shooter.

It truly saddens me to know there are people in this world who find pleasure in murdering innocent people in cold blood during the celebration of our nation's independence. Our hearts and prayers go out to those who have lost loved ones this past weekend, and to those who have been wounded by these bullets of hatred.