Crime Blotter

SUNDAY MORNING COMIN' DOWN The news that Ronald Reagan had died not only sent the nation into mourning—it also sent a few New Yorkers over the edge. The carnage began just a few short hours after word of the Gipper's demise broke.

At 12:30 Sunday morning, 27-year-old Oscar Kennedy was shot in the head and back in the lobby of his apartment building on Surf Ave. Was it mere coincidence that he should die in the same manner as his presidential namesake? We wonder.

Just a few minutes later, another man was shot in the head inside a Boerum Hill apartment building. Was his name Lincoln? We don't know, as the 20-year-old's identity has not been released. At last report, he was in critical condition.

About three hours later, a 911 call led police to a bloody wreck of a man on a Queens sidewalk. He'd been shot in his arm and chest, and died at the hospital less than an hour later.

And just before sunrise, a fight erupted in the Double Deuce bar in Gravesend. When police arrived on the scene, they found 40-year-old Joseph Pellicone blocking the doorway, bleeding from both stab and bullet wounds. Inside, another man—Raymond Weinmeier—was on the floor. He'd been stabbed three times. While police were still occupied at the bar, a third man who'd split before they arrived casually strolled into Coney Island Hospital, complaining of gunshot wounds. Exactly what the hell happened was unknown.

That same morning an inmate who'd been held at the Kings County Hospital awaiting a psychiatric evaluation lowered himself into an airshaft with a knotted bedsheet rope. It didn't quite work as planned, and 37-year-old Anthony Borelli fell to his death. He'd been arrested in January, charged with robbery and parole violation.

Two men were fighting near Crotona Park early Monday evening when the girlfriend of one of the pugilists appeared on the scene wielding a beer bottle. Soon after she began splashing the contents of the bottle on a crowd of onlookers, it became evident it was not cool, frosty beer, but rather a mixture of Drano, bleach and hair-straightener. The caustic brew ate through clothing and flesh alike.

In the end, seven people were burned, one seriously; the victims were hosed down by emergency workers. Later that night, two people were arrested in connection with the attack.

Two men sputtered around Brooklyn on motor scooters Monday night before pausing in front of a group of people on a Flatbush sidewalk. The men drew guns, shooting and killing 27-year-old Antoine Johnson before buzzing away. His sister later told reporters, "It's unusual that someone would be over here shooting from a scooter."

Two boys, ages 10 and 13, stormed into a Harlem laundromat minutes before closing on Wednesday night. The 13-year-old drew a knife on the attendant and demanded money. The 10-year-old began to cry.

In the end no one was hurt, and the boys got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. The attendant later described them as "little brats." o