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20-Year-Old Tourist Killed By Gun Violence In Brooklyn

(Credit: YouTube Screenshot CBS New York https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gUgzkhcQRY)

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A 20 year old touring New York City on the trip of his dreams died after being hit by a stray bullet in Brooklyn, the New York Times reported.

Ethan Williams and his friends were sitting on the porch of a home in Brooklyn around 2:30 a.m. Saturday when six shots were fired, according to the New York Times. All of Williams’ friends ran inside, according to his friend Blaine Cromley.


“He was stumbling, running up the stairs after he got shot, then he was just laying on the top of the stairs,” Cromley told the outlet. “I sprinted down and saw the blood. I felt his chest and there was just nothing. He wasn’t alive.”

Williams was taken to the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center by first responders, where he was pronounced dead, according to the New York Police Department. (RELATED: 15 Shot, 3 Killed In Two Days In New York City)

Williams and his friends had been on a trip to the city. The 20 year old intended to move to New York City one day to pursue his dream of becoming a professional skateboarder.

“He was so excited to see New York,” his father Jason Williams told the New York Post. “He wanted to meet people like he’d seen on TV.”

The family asked for privacy as they grieve the loss of their son.

“If he had the opportunity to say something to the shooter, we know that he would invite him for a cup of coffee and ask to hear their story,” the family’s statement said, according to the New York Post. “He would forgive without delay. Ethan always saw beyond the surface and took the time to help others feel seen, important and loved.”

“The family appreciates the outpouring of support,” the statement concluded. “We ask for privacy while we grieve and focus on figuring out what the world will look like without Ethan.”

There have been 370 homicides in New York City this year, according to the New York Times.