SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The NYPD’s bomb squad has been called to Sheepshead Bay High School at 3000 Avenue X, after authorities may have found what’s believed to be an explosive device in the basement of the school.

A call came over police scanners at approximately 10:20 a.m., saying that police were on scene with what appeared to be a “military explosive device” found in the basement. The officers on scene requested the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit.

Readers, like Lisa M., have told Sheepshead Bites that the police presence is heavy and that the school has been evacuated. Lisa wrote:

tons of cops over at Sheepshead High today…kids amassed outside…the police in front of my house (on Batchelder St. near Ave.Y) told me there was a “threat to the school”.

Sheepshead Bites has not been able to confirm with the NYPD if an actual explosive has been found and confirmed. We will update as more information becomes available.

UPDATE (11:14 a.m.): It appears that other schools in the area, including P.S. 52 on Nostrand Avenue and Avenue Z have also been evacuated.

UPDATE (11:30 a.m.): An aide in the principal’s office answered the phone and said that everyone has returned to the building and she believes, but was not sure, that the police have left. She declined to provide details about the cause of the evacuation.

Sheepshead Bites is still awaiting a response from the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information and the 61st Precinct.

UPDATE (2:50 p.m.): The “explosive” turned out to be an old science experiment left in the building’s basement. The Daily News reports:

The NYPD bomb squad determined the device was a harmless World War II-era depth gauge, school officials said.

“It is thought this suspicious package may be a World War II relic that may have once been used in a very old science project,” Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg said in a statement.

Students were allowed back in the school within two hours, officials said.

This is a breaking news story and may contain inaccuracies. We will update it as more information becomes available. If anyone has more information or additional photos, please send them to tips (at) sheepsheadbites (dot) com.

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CompStat reports are produced by the New York Police Department on a weekly basis. We summarize the week’s statistics for the 61st Precinct reports every Friday. The 61st Precinct is the police command responsible for Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Kings Highway, Homecrest, Madison, Manhattan Beach, and Gerritsen Beach.

Shaniesha Forbes. (Source: Facebook)

An arrest was made regarding the murder of Shaniesha Forbes, the teenager found naked and burned on the shores of Gerritsen Beach. The New York Daily News is reporting that the suspect in question had thought Forbes was pregnant with his child.

The 14-year-old Forbes had disappeared from her Flatlands home last January after saying she was going to school. Her body was found a few days later, badly burned, on Gerritsen Beach.

City medical examiners found that Forbes had been asphyxiated before being burned on her arms, hands and legs in an apparent attempt to disappear her body.

The man arrested, identified as 20-year-old Christian Ferdinand, is said to be from Maine. Police sources told the Daily News that he killed Forbes after fearing she had become pregnant with his child. Medical reports later indicated that Forbes was not pregnant.

The arrest is the first step in the long road to justice being sought by Forbes’ devastated family. Forbes’ mother, Sandra Price, had spoken at a January press conference and expressed frustration at the NYPD’s failure to make headway in the case.

Ferdinand was charged with second-degree murder.

Source: mikey k via flickr

A Sheepshead Bay family is still mourning months after 27-year-old family member Yuliya Hermanska was tragically killed in a car accident, according to a report by the New York Daily News.

Hermanska was killed on March 23 when she left her Sheepshead Bay apartment to go shopping. She was struck when a 66-year-old driver jumped the curb and hit her. The New York Daily News described the situation that led to Hermanska’s death.

Police say the driver, Mikhail Nulman, was issued a summons for blowing through the red light at Ocean and Voorhies Aves. He swerved to avoid a collision with a turning car but lost control and mounted the curb, driving nearly 70 feet on the sidewalk and striking Hermanska and two teenage girls, both of whom survived, according to police accounts.

The tragedy hit Hermanska’s family hard. She was a bright lawyer who spoke three different languages and was engaged to be married to fiance Vitaly Obodovsky.

“I keep on asking myself, ‘Why did you let her go to the store?’” Obodovsky told the Daily News.

Uliana Hermanska, Yuliya’s mother was also devastated and has been left wondering whether her daughter will ever see justice. The family’s lawyer, Edward Steinberg, told the Daily News vehicular fatalities involving ‘out-of-control’ drivers, who were not intoxicated or on drugs or alcohol, fail to inspire prosecutors to act quickly.

Steinberg claimed he called the Brooklyn district attorney’s office for details but hasn’t heard anything back. The DA’s office denies this charge and offered that the family should come in whenever they like to help the investigation along.

A Brighton Beach family away on vacation was victimized by a burglar over the weekend, but the thief’s acts were all caught on a nanny cam.

On Satuday night around 9 p.m., the crook broke into the home of Alexey Chizhov by entering through a back window. He made off with cash,  jewelry and computer, according to a Gothamist report.

There may not have been any lead on the thief’s identify, had Chizhov not turned on his nanny cam on a whim.

“That day when we were leaving to Washington, I decided to put it on. The cameras were not obtained for security purposes, because we’ve never had any burglars in our household, but I was like, ‘Why not?’” Chizhov told NBC NY.

Anyone with information on the crime is encouraged to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. You can also visit the Crime Stoppers website by clicking here.

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CompStat reports are produced by the New York Police Department on a weekly basis. We summarize the week’s statistics for the 61st Precinct reports every Friday. The 61st Precinct is the police command responsible for Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Kings Highway, Homecrest, Madison, Manhattan Beach, and Gerritsen Beach.

Bennett Castello. Source: New York State Division of Criminal Justice via nbcnewyork.com

A man suspected of attempting to rape a 13-year-old girl in a Gravesend elevator last week has been arrested. According to a report by NBC NY, the police arrested 40-year-old Bennett Castello, a registered sex offender.

According to authorities, on April 30 at a Gravesend building located on Avenue Z and West 2nd Street, Castello was riding down an elevator with the victim when he allegedly pulled a pair of scissors and attempted to rape her. When the elevator door opened, he ran off and the girl was unharmed.

Castello was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, burglary and rape.

In 1998, Castello was convicted of sex crimes against a victim who was over 21. As a result of his conviction, he was classified as a violent sex offender.

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CompStat reports are produced by the New York Police Department on a weekly basis. We summarize the week’s statistics for the 61st Precinct reports every Friday. The 61st Precinct is the police command responsible for Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, Kings Highway, Homecrest, Madison, Manhattan Beach, and Gerritsen Beach.

Runners on Ocean Parkway during the 2012 half marathon. Photo by Allan Shweky.

The Brooklyn Half Marathon is back and bigger than ever. New York 1 is reporting that the marathon has grown from 6,000 runners in 2011, to 15,000 last year, and now a staggering 20,000 runners signed up for this year’s event.

(See photos from last year’s half-marathon.)

The run, set for May 18, is now the country’s second largest half marathon. A half marathon’s total distance is 13.1 miles.

“Brooklyn’s big in every way, and it’s time for its half marathon to be that much bigger, too,” Mary Wittenberg, president of the New York Road Runners, told NY 1. “So we’re really excited.”

In attempting to account for the marathon’s growth in popularity, organizers claim that the switch of the running date last year from March to May played a big role. Although last year locals fumed about potential traffic snarls from the thousands of runners heading down Ocean Parkway, organizers say it’s worth it to have the finish line in Coney Island, which makes for a more exciting and picturesque finish for runners speeding along the boardwalk and will help local businesses.

On that note, event organizers are collaborating with local Coney Island businesses to make sure that the runners have incentive to stay and spend money in the area when the race ends.

Coney Island business owners and elected officials met with New York Road Runners to come up with strategies on how to keep the thousands of runners in Coney Island after the race. One way is to offer special deals on rides and food.

“You just don’t run home,” said City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn. “You stay. You enjoy Coney Island. It’s up and running. We have great family activities. We have free events.”

The festivities will also feature extra security in light of the bombings that took place in Boston last month.

“We’ll have extra security,” Inspector Peter DeBlasio of the New York City Police Department’s 60th Precinct told NY 1. “Counterterrorism people will be deployed down here. Radiation pagers, dogs, things like that.”

If you want to join the race yourself, spots are still available. Registration ends on May 14. For more information, you can visit the New York Road Runners website by clicking here.

The crook who robbed a 7-Eleven earlier this week is wanted for hitting up four other businesses across Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend.

News 12 is reporting that the wanted man is cutting a path of crime through the area, robbing bodegas and convenience stores. His first target was a different 7-Eleven located at 133 Avenue U, which he robbed on April 15. Three days later he hit up the Universal Grocery store on the same street, hauling in close to $1,000 according to the store’s owner. He then returned to rob the same 7-Eleven (133 Avenue U) this past Saturday before striking the 7-Eleven located at 2702 Knapp Street in Sheepshead Bay.

The NYPD is doing all they can to nab the thief before he acts again. If you have any information regarding the crime, the NYPD urges you to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You can also text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. You can also submit tips to www.nypdcrimestoppers.com. All calls are kept in strict confidentiality.