Crime tape hung in the front of Bruce Prince’s home on California Avenue, about a mile north of Mount Sinai Hospital and just south of the Eisenhower Expressway.
Police had taped off the block and parked a squad car at the south end while they waited for detectives and evidence techs to arrive Tuesday afternoon.
Two teens were shot here just after noon: a 17-year-old in his buttocks and left index finger and a 16-year-old in the chest, back and hip. Both were stabilized after they walked into Sinai looking for help.
Prince’s 11-year-old great-nephew poked his head out and sat down next to Prince on the porch. The boy had accidentally killed his twin brother, Jonathan, six years ago — Tuesday was the anniversary of the 5-year-old’s death.
The twins had found a gun brought home by an older nephew, who found it in a nearby alley. The older nephew spent a few years in jail after the shooting, Prince said.
On a brick wall outside their home was a faded mural in honor of Jonathan that a neighbor painted.
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As the surviving twin sat with Prince on Tuesday, a detective walked up and asked if either had seen anything. Prince, 47, said he wasn’t home when it happened and came back to find the yellow tape on his fence.
The two teens were shot around the corner, and the boy said he didn’t see much. The detective walked away after a few minutes.
“The ‘hood ain’t fun. It used to be. We ain’t got much but you can make fun with what you got,” Prince said. No block parties though, no barbecues, because they frequently end in shooting.
“Look all around,” he said, waving toward Harrison. Toward a woman in orange (one of the area dope fiends, he said) and toward a group of old men sitting outside a building on California (more dope fiends).
A set of basketball courts across the street, in use until a couple of years ago, sat unused and grown over. A man pushed a shopping cart down an adjacent alley. A man driving a black SUV slammed on his brakes when he realized he was about to drive into the crime scene.
“Dope fiends, man.”