A construction worker was killed on City Island, only for the alleged gunman to be hit by a car as he was trying to escape on his bicycle.
Lizbeth Mass, 52, was on her lunch break around 12:45pm on Wednesday when she was shot multiple times by a 66-year-old unnamed assailant after exchanging words with him.
Police say Mass was taken to Jacobi Hospital after the shooting, where she died of her injuries.
A shocking shooting and subsequent car crash took one life on Wednesday afternoon
The alleged shooting happened during Lizbeth Mass’ construction lunch break around 12:45
The alleged gunman (not identified) shot Mass multiple times, ultimately killing her
‘The guy on the bike, came up started hollering and just shot her,’ said another worker at the construction site, who remained anonymous.
Meanwhile, the gunman hopped on a bicycle and tried to flee the scene of the shooting, according to the New York Post.
The gunman’s escape was thwarted by another construction worker, however, who hit the alleged gunman with their Hyundai Sonata.
The New York Daily News reports that the man behind the wheel in the crash was Mass’ 58-year-old boyfriend and that they worked together at the construction site.
Mass’ boyfriend allegedly hopped into his black Hyundai Sonata after the shooting
Mass’ boyfriend then allegedly drove the car at the gunman, who was trying to escape
‘The guy in the car, the black Hyundai ran him over, jumped out and started kicking the s**t out of him,’ the anonymous construction worker added to the Post.
Police were then able to arrest the suspect in the shooting and recover a weapon. He was transported to the same hospital as Mass for injuries suffered in the crash.
Charges against the man were pending, police said. ABC7 reports that the boyfriend is not expected to face charges for hitting the shooting suspect.
Mass’ boyfriend allegedly hit the gunman’s bike, injuring him to the point of hospitalization
Police were then able to arrest the gunman, as well as recover a weapon from the scene
Cops pointed towards a domestic dispute as the possible cause of the shooting, though the NYPD says the two were not romantically involved.
The gunman previously brought lunch to Mass, according to a nearby property owner.
The motive for the shooting is not clear.
‘This guy used to bring her sandwiches every day but then he brought bullets,’ the man stated.
Mass, who lived in Brooklyn, worked as a flagger at the construction site, according to CBS2, helping to keep traffic moving.
‘She was always very pleasant, very chipper, just a nice person,’ Marta Martinez said to the news station.
‘Everybody smiles and waves at her because she wears a pink hard hat,’ the construction worker told the NY Post about Mass. ‘She’s a sweet person. I can’t believe this.’
Mass’ boyfriend isnt expected to face charges after hitting the alleged gunman with the car
‘Everyone in the neighborhood knew her,’ a neighbor said to the Daily News. ‘I would see her when I would walk my dog around 4:30 in the morning, when she would park her car. She was a very sweet and beautiful woman.’
This was just the ninth killing seen in the Bronx’s 45th Precinct – which spans City Island and Co-op CIty – since 1993.
The shooting is part of a troubling trend of increased crime in New York City
The incident unfolded on City Island in the Bronx, where killings are few and far between
Last week, the NYPD released its latest crime data for March, showing that overall crime went up 2.4 percent, compared with the same time last year.
That increase is driven by a 36 percent jump in murders and a 35 percent increase in auto thefts.
There were 99 shooting incidents in March 2021, compared to 56 a year ago, representing an increase of nearly 77 percent, even as police drastically stepped up their efforts to arrest suspects on weapons charges.
There were 492 gun arrests citywide last month, which is an increase of nearly 67 percent compared to March 2020.
