After a five-hour standoff, the police situation near the Brighton Beach Starbucks came to an abrupt and tragic end on Saturday, as police shot and killed Samuel White.
Police allege White kidnapped and raped an ex-girlfriend, who sparked the standoff by escaping out a window to the building’s roof after contacting relatives and informing them of her situation. When police arrived, White was holed up in the apartment with a kitchen knife. After five hours of negotiation, police entered the building to throw a remote viewing device, but White lunged at them and stabbed an officer. After a taser failed to stop him, police shot White five times. He was pronounced dead at Coney Island Hospital.
White reportedly had a long rap sheet, with 12 convictions. Five of those were related to his ex-girlfriend, including a previous abduction in which he took her to a Sheepshead Bay hotel.
You can read the full story from the NY Times and NY1.
It appears as if the exterior work on the Walgreens going up on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue W is almost done. Construction started about six months ago, notes Lisanne Anderson, who shot the above photo, and looks as if it may open sometime mid-summer.
This will be Walgreens’ fifth location in the area. Last June, they bought out Morris’ Drug Store on East 17th Street, where they expanded the store last month by removing the wall separating it from the next storefront, which is part of the same building. There is also a branch on the corner of Kings Highway and Coney Island Avenue, in the building that formerly housed the Kingsway Theater, and another branch at Brighton Beach Avenue at the intersection of Coney Island Avenue. Their branch at West 5th Street and Neptune Avenue was probably their only Brooklyn store previously, having been there at least since the late seventies, if not earlier.
Thanks to Lisanne for the information.
I had seen the Gothamist Map listing an unusual fire in Brighton Beach at Oceanview Ave and Brighton Beach Ave on Tuesday, January 13, 2008, but couldn’t get out there in time to get you any significant information.
Then, I happened on Early Addition, Jen Chung’s summary list on the Gothamist News and got interested, again, about the unusual fire. Does anyone have any information about this unusual fire that they can share with us?
