BROOKLYN, N.Y. (WPIX) — A serial shooting suspect wanted in connection with three attacks in Brooklyn and Manhattan — two of them fatal — surrendered early Tuesday amid an intense manhunt, law-enforcement sources told WPIX.
Sundance Oliver, 28, turned himself in at an NYPD precinct in Crown Heights, New York, according to sources. His surrender came after police “blanketed” the city in search of him.
Oliver is accused of shooting a 17-year-old girl in the chest inside a housing development in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a press briefing prior to the surrender.
The girl, whose identity was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
Her death marked the third shooting police attributed to Oliver in the span of less than 15 hours, sending investigators into an exhaustive search.
“The NYPD is on high alert,” said Sewell. “We have blanketed the city with our Special Operations, Detective, Patrol, Transit and Housing bureaus.”
The spate of incidents began around 9:30 a.m. Monday when the suspect allegedly tried to rob a 39-year-old woman at gunpoint in a courtyard, according to authorities. Police said Oliver is accused of firing a round that missed the woman but struck a 96-year-old man waiting at a bus stop in the right ankle.
The wounded man, who uses a wheelchair, was taken to an area hospital and listed in stable condition. The attempted robbery victim, who knew Oliver, was not harmed and did not ultimately lose any of her possessions, officials said. The suspect allegedly fled on foot.
A little over five hours after the first incident, Oliver allegedly shot a 21-year-old man in the chest on the sixth floor of a building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, police said. The man was taken to an area hospital, where he died. His identity had not been released as of early Tuesday.
“Based on evidence collected at all three crime scenes and a number of investigative steps, it has been determined that the shooter is the same in all three of these incidents,” said Sewell in the Tuesday briefing.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at the briefing that police believe the two homicide victims to be “associates” of Oliver.
Essig added that Oliver is “very well-known” to the department, with 12 prior arrests, including charges of robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing. The court disposition of those cases was not immediately disclosed, but Essig said Oliver is currently on parole in one of the robbery incidents.
Oliver was described by Sewell as “armed and extremely dangerous” as he remained at large.