3 Men Shot at LES Housing Project; Drug Bust In Washington Square

Blood soaked the sidewalk outside the Lilian Wald Houses NYCHA project early on Sunday morning August 31 after three men were shot in the latest eruption of Lower East Side gun violence. Details are as follows:

At approximately 3:36 a.m, police responded to a 911 call of a person shot in front of 890 East 6th Street, within the confines of the 9 Precinct / PSA 4.

Upon arrival, officers observed a 41-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the groin, a 35-year-old male with gunshot wounds throughout the body, and a 37-year-old male with gunshot wounds throughout the body.

EMS responded and transported the three male victims to NYC Health and Hospitals / Bellevue, in stable condition.

There are no arrests at this time, and the investigation remains ongoing.

“I rolled out of my bed and hit the floor,” a second-floor resident told the New York Post.

“Sounded like six or seven gunshots. I heard a guy yelling, ‘Mother f–ker! Mother f—ker!’

Opened in 1949, Wald Houses, with a population of around 4,500, comprises 18 buildings of 11 to 14 stories set across more than 16 acres bound by Houston Street on the south and East 6th Street on the north.

The housing project is one of a number of public spaces that honor the memory of Lilian D. Wald (1867-1940), founder, in 1893, of the Henry Street Settlement.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X @NYPDTips.

Another Drug Bust in Washington Square Park

As long as they keep selling illegal drugs in Washington Square Park, cops will keep arresting drug dealers—even if the courts will let most of them go.

“Just a friendly reminder that selling marijuana in Washington Square Park is still illegal,” the 6th Precinct, under the command of Deputy Inspector Jason Zeikel recently posted on X. “Selling cocaine is a felony. The 6th Precinct is laser focused on cleaning up your park one drug dealer at a time.”

Crime watch reached out to NYPD and asked if they had any more details. As it happens, they did and “pursuant to an ongoing investigation” police on Sept. 6 arrested 32-year-old Elija Hope, 32 of 410 Sutter Avenue, a building within the Van Dyke Houses NYCHA project in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance (crack); Unlicensed General Vendor; Unlawful Sale of Cannabis; and Violation of Parks and Rec Law.

At his arraignment the following day, Hope pled not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. His next scheduled court date is October 22.