NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: School Leaders Urge Parents to Enroll Migrant Students in Public Schools, Hurricane Erin Could Bring Dangerous Rip Currents to NYC Beaches, and Crown Heights Community on Edge After Shooting

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

The city’s Department of Education is urging parents of newly arrived migrant children to enroll them in public school as classes start next month. Also, though Hurricane Erin is expected to stay well offshore, dangerous surf and rip currents could show up along the area’s coast over the next few days. And finally, WNYC’s Brittany Kriegstein visits the scene of this weekend’s mass shooting in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood.

School leaders urge parents to enroll migrant students in public schools. Hurricane Aaron could bring dangerous rip currents to New York City beaches. And the Crown Heights community is on edge after a weekend mass shooting. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jenae Pierre. The city's Department of Education is urging parents of newly arrived migrant children to enroll them in public school as classes start next month. That comes after local officials.

say immigration authorities detained several students during routine court check-ins, including a seven-year-old last week. Schools Chancellor Melissa Avilles-Ramos says the DOE is ramping up support to parents. This is something that's very near and dear and personal to me. We have amped up the number of know-your-rights trainings for our families, know their rights training for our parent coordinators, for our parent leaders, for our principals and our teachers, because we think that's so important. She says schools remain. safe spaces, and the department is committed to protecting students and families. Hurricane Aaron has re-intensified to a Category 4 storm after weakening over the weekend.

The storm is moving closer to the southeast Bahamas with about 130 mile-per-hour winds. It's expected to stay well offshore, and no direct impact is forecast for the New York area. But New York City beachgoers should take note. Dangerous surf and rip currents could show up along the coast over the next few days. Hurricane Aaron is expected to remain a large, major hurricane into the middle of this week. A shooting in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood has neighbors in shock. We hit the scene for reactions after the break. There's blood all over the place, bullets all over, bullet shells all over the place.

Two people who landed dead. One girl shot in her face, like five or six people outside shot. It was just crazy. A shooting early Sunday morning in a Crown Heights Huka lounge has left three people dead and 11 others injured. Police are searching for two suspects they say were among those who opened fire at the lounge. So far, there have been no arrests. WMYC's Brittany Crickstein is at the scene of the shooting.

Brittany, describe the scene for us right now. What's the vibe there? Sure, Jene. So I'll just say that we're speaking on Monday afternoon, and I'm at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Carroll Street in Crown Heights. And I describe this scene as busy but eerie. What I mean by that is the usual activities of this community aren't happening. Instead, the street is closed that's filled with the police department's crime scene unit,

detectives, investigators, and several anti-violence organizations that have come out here with trucks and set up tents and tables to try to be a resource for community members who are reeling from what happened here. Have you been talking to any folks in the neighborhood? I have. And what people are saying is that this club, it's a neighborhood spot, and they've had fun there in the past. And things have usually been okay, but that at times, if it gets really crowded, it can give rise to violence. People have mentioned fights. They've mentioned disturbances that have spilled out onto the streets.

They've even mentioned occasional gunshots fired. But never anything of this magnitude. I spoke to neighbor Shaniel Blue, who looks directly, next door to the club. And she says she normally sees a security guard stationed outside, especially on busy nights. She said she saw one even on the night that this happened. And she's just wondering, and many people are wondering, how people could have entered this club with guns. And how exactly everything was allowed to unfold the way it did. Obviously, these things happened quickly. But she says, and other people say, they'll never step foot inside

again after this. My colleague Ramsey-Coleez spoke to a few people who were near the scene right after this happened when police were taking people to the hospital and dealing with the immediate aftermath. And they compared it to a war zone and a bloodbath. So those are really strong words, especially for this community that people say is normally just a friendly working neighborhood. Yeah. Again, three people did, 11 others injured. Brittany, what do we know at this point about the victims who were killed and those who were injured? So we know that Jamel Childs, he's 35, Marvin St. Louis is 19, and police are saying that those two in particular were involved in the exchange of gunfire. Then there's this third person

killed that's 27-year-old Amadu Diallo. Police say he lived in Manhattan and we're still trying to find out more information about why he was there at the club. I actually knocked on the doors of the other two child and St. Louis, their families just didn't really want to talk about the incident. But we're still waiting to hear more about exactly how they were involved. Police are saying they may have exchanged words, surveillance videos showed them speaking to each other before the shots were fired. And then we have those 11 other people in the hospital with Darius injuries. And it's not clear exactly what condition they're all in at this point. The NYPD has described this incident as a possible gang-related shooting. Where does the investigation stand right now? Right. So that's what they're saying

about the reasons that allegedly Jamel Childs and Marvin St. Louis were involved, but they're still looking for two additional people who were involved in the shooting, opening fire on the crowd, and we're not sure who those people are or any descriptions of them or what they were involved in. So there's still a lot of unanswered questions at this point. I'm wondering, Brittany, How are city officials and community leaders responding to this shooting? Because, you know, this is happening at a time when overall gun violence in New York City has been trending down. That's right. And they've really been stressing that point.

Eric Adams and NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch have been emphasizing that, yes, shootings are down citywide to really low levels that even had broken records in recent years. But it's important to say that this is the second mass shooting. New York has experienced in recent weeks. We had that shooting in Midtown Manhattan, and an office building that killed four people and the shooter. And so I think it's fair to say that residents are really reeling from this and trying to understand why this is happening, even as gun violence is down citywide.

And those are really tough questions to ask. Gun violence is very complex. And community members are really grappling with this. City officials are really grappling with this. And of course, these anti-violence. organizations are stepping in to try to really get to the bottom of what's happening and prevent further violence. That's WNYC's Brittany Crickstein. For the latest on this story, visit our new site, Gothamist. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.