Man Is Crushed by Stolen Minivan After Gunfire Near Courthouse

NEW YORK — A 26-year-old man was killed near the Staten Island courthouse Tuesday when several men he was believed to have shot at plowed into him in a stolen minivan and pinned him against a house, the authorities said.

Around the same time, half-a-mile away, a 67-year-old woman standing near a bus stop was shot once in the face, and investigators were still trying to determine Tuesday night whether her shooting was related to the crashed minivan. She was in critical but stable condition at Richmond University Medical Center.

The crackle of gunfire, the carjacking of the minivan and the zigzagging chase that followed threw the mostly residential neighborhood around the Staten Island courthouse into chaos. Five people were taken into custody after the minivan crashed into the house, but they had not been charged by Tuesday evening. The police had not arrested anyone in connection with the woman’s shooting.

The violence began with a fight between three men outside the courthouse, where they had each arrived for court appearances, said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.

Officers from Staten Island Supreme Court and Criminal Court detained and questioned the three men. No one was hurt, and none of the men chose to make a complaint, Chalfen said. The officers gave them tickets for disorderly conduct, and the men made their court appearances.

Later, just before noon, a second fight broke out near the courthouse. Court officers saw what looked to be a group of men chasing a smaller group of men at a nearby corner. Investigators believe they were rival gangs, Chalfen said.

It was not clear if the three men who had gotten into the earlier fight were involved in the chase.

Someone told officers in the courthouse lobby that one of the men had a knife, Chalfen said. Court officers chased after the groups. Then some of the men carjacked a minivan, turned it around and used it to join the chase.

At the scene of the crash Tuesday night, Thomas Moore, 50, said the minivan belonged to his 27-year-old son. He said his son had been dropping off a friend near the courthouse when his son saw the friend arguing with other men.

As his son looked out the passenger side of the minivan, someone coming from the driver’s side punched him in the back of the head, Moore said. A group of men pushed him away from the van and someone pulled out a box cutter, prompting him to run to a nearby store.

Moore said the men who carjacked his son took him for a member of a street gang from the New Brighton neighborhood, although Moore said his son was not involved in any criminal or gang activity and had nothing to do with the brewing fight outside the courthouse.

“As far as they’re concerned, he’s with New Brighton — he’s with the New Brighton scene,” Moore said. “And whoever they knew that’s affiliated with New Brighton, they was out to bring problems to them.”

Moore said his son was attacked a second time inside the store.

As the men pursued each other through nearby streets, court officers heard gunshots, Chalfen said. Then, the officers saw the minivan ram into a house that serves as a bed-and-breakfast, crushing the man the police believe fired shots.

Investigators found a revolver on the windshield next to the pinned man, Chalfen said, but police officials said they had not determined whom the revolver belonged to.

Court officers ordered men out of the van and handcuffed them. The police did not release the names of the slain man or those taken into custody. In the early evening, people walked up to the police tape looking to get to their cars or to get home, only to be told by officers that they weren’t allowed to pass.

Alana Butler, 59, was on her way home from her job at the moving company she runs with her husband. She said the street sometimes sees violence. “But this usually happens at night,” she said.

Kwame Heshimu, who teaches at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, was turned back by officers at the police tape that was blocking his way home.

“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen here,” he said. “We don’t have shootouts. St. George is a decent neighborhood. There are a lot of homeowners around here who value property and value community.”