Jun 28, 2009 7:48 am US/Eastern
Gunfire Erupts At 'Drug Haven' NYC Daycare Center
Cops Shoot, Wound Suspect During Brazen Robbery Just Steps Away From Sleeping Tots
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
Police shot and wounded an armed man during a brazen robbery attempt at a day care center that functioned as a drug haven, with a trove of marijuana and more than $100,000 in cash in its basement, authorities said Saturday.
CBS
Parents are breathing a sigh of relief in the wake of a shooting at a Brooklyn daycare center.
The shots were fired Friday, just steps away from a group of sleeping toddlers, and now the investigation has taken a surprising twist.
A dozen toddlers were napping at Special Moments Daycare in East Flatbush when two men burst inside, waving handguns. When officers arrived a few minutes later, they found Gavin Nugent, 34, in a back room, police said. Children were in another room nearby.
Nugent pointed a gun at officers, who fired three rounds at him and followed him when he ran to the basement, police said.
Following a trail of blood, officers found him in a back room and fired another shot as he tried to escape, police said.
Meanwhile, a police sergeant ushered the roughly 12 children and four staffers calmly to safety, police said. None was hurt, but "my friends were crying," 2-year-old Yosha Williams told The New York Times.
Her mother, Somalia Williams, said the children were taken to a station house and given pizza.
It all happened just steps away from the sleeping tots. Children were lying down for naps around noon Friday when two men knocked on the day care center's door and forced their way past an employee who answered, police said. They said a third man stayed outside as a lookout.
The owner's husband, who was not at the center, called 911 after an employee called him, police said.
Parents who arrived to pick up their children were stunned and terrified, but thankful that none of the kids were hurt.
"Everybody's life could have been put in danger, and we didn't know that was going on!" neighbor Bridgette Phillips says.
But police don't believe this was a random robbery attempt. In fact, they say the owner – 37-year-old Donna Rogers – may have invited the violence into her home, and put the children at risk, by using the daycare as a front for drugs.
Police initially thought the Special Moments Daycare might have been targeted for a holdup Friday because it was payday. But "it appears now that the day care center was a repository for drugs and money," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
While police were investigating the shooting, they found more than 10 pounds of marijuana and over $100,000 stashed inside the childcare center.
"That was a daycare, so I didn't know they were wheeling and dealing otherwise," one witness said.
Rogers and her husband, Sherwin Rogers, 36, have been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana.
Neighbors, and those who trusted her to keep their children safe, say they feel betrayed, angry, and frightened.
"You want to do your thing, fine – [but] you don't bring it around the children," neighbor Toyia Phillips says. "That's the sickest thing about it."
Nugent was hospitalized in stable condition with gunshot wounds to the torso and left wrist. A woman declined to comment after answering a phone at the Brooklyn address police had for him, and police didn't know whether he had a lawyer.
Nugent and the other two suspects were arrested on burglary, robbery, and weapons charges.
CBS 2's Kathryn Brown contributed to this report.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments