2 dead in a score of overnight shootings in NYC

A late-night party in a South Bronx apartment ended with a burst of gunfire that left three teenagers wounded and one dead in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Shortly before 3 a.m., there was a knock on the apartment door and numerous rounds were fired into the apartment when the door opened, according to a police witness' account.

Demitrius Jones, 19, was killed with a bullet in his back. He was pronounced dead on the scene in his apartment on Grand Concourse between East 171st and East 172nd streets.

The hail of bullets sent an 18-year-old boy, 18-year-old girl and 16-year-old girl to area hospitals where police said they were in stable condition after being treated for gunshot wounds.

A neighbor living on the same floor said the party was "really loud," blaring hip-hop music, but she managed to fall asleep. The gunfire didn't rouse her, but the aftermath did.

"I heard screaming," she said. "It woke me up."

She looked through her front door's peephole and saw police and others crowd the hall.

"Everybody was yelling and arguing," she said.

Police said they didn't have a motive and were not sure how many people fired shots. No arrests have been made.

The deadly incident was just one in violent night in the city that left 20 people shot, including 14 in the Bronx from nine separate shootings.

"Last night's wave of violence is extremely alarming, not only to myself but to . . . 1.4 million Bronx residents who want to do nothing more than work, raise their families and live their lives in peace without having to worry that they or their children will be cut down by a thug's bullet," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said in a statement. "Those who would turn to a gun as the answer to their problems have no place in decent society. This has to stop."

The Bronx shootings killed two people. About half an hour after the apartment party shooting and 13 blocks away, Alexis Abreu, 16, was killed outside his home. The two deadly shootings did not appear to be related, police said.