Man, 36, is shot dead in The Bronx after he ‘flicked a cigarette butt in the direction of three men’

A 36-year-old man has been shot dead in front of his wife in the Bronx after he inadvertently flicked a cigarette butt into the direction of three strangers, police have revealed.

Curtis Holley was shot in the stomach around 8:45pm on Saturday near his home on East 165th Street and Prospect Avenue after becoming embroiled in an argument with the three men.

‘He flicked a cigarette,’ a police source told the NY Post. ‘It just happened to be in the direction of three individuals. He didn’t mean to do it.’

Holley had been walking along the street with his wife at the time of the incident. The verbal confrontation that ensued quickly turned violent, with one of the men pulling out a gun and opening fire.

Holley shown above

Curtis Holley was shot in the stomach around 8:45pm on Saturday near his home on East 165th Street and Prospect Avenue after becoming embroiled in an argument with the three men.

Holley had been walking along the street with his wife at the time of the incident (scene of the shooting shown above in a Google Maps image)

Holley had been walking along the street with his wife at the time of the incident (scene of the shooting shown above in a Google Maps image)

When EMTs responded to the scene, Holley was found unresponsive and unconscious, lying on the pavement with a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.

He was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just hours later at 11:55pm.

So far there have been no arrests in relation to Holley’s murder and the shooter has still not been identified.

Neighbors of Holley at his previous home, a city-run temporary housing unit in Harlem, told the NY Daily News that the 36-year-old was ousted from the residence in July after breaking a window on the first floor.

Occupant Philip Farrice, 67, said Holley had assaulted him and robbed him while at the shelter, the outlet reported.

‘I guess I don’t have to look over my shoulder,’ Farrice said. ‘It’s sad though’.

Other former neighbors of Holley remembered him as a kind man.

‘Every time I’d see him he was on the elevator with his wife and we would talk,’ Donna Prophete, 55, told the Daily News. ‘He’s a nice guy though. He was very friendly.’

In total, two other men were killed and several others were injured in a series of overnight shootings in New York City between Saturday and Sunday.

Holley had been walking along the street with his wife at the time of the incident. The verbal confrontation that ensued quickly turned violent, with one of the men pulling out a gun and shooting him

Holley had been walking along the street with his wife at the time of the incident. The verbal confrontation that ensued quickly turned violent, with one of the men pulling out a gun and shooting him

Holley was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just hours later at 11:55pm

Holley was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just hours later at 11:55pm

Within hours of Holley being pronounced dead, 23-year-old Madgey Saleh was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on 40th Avenue near the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City at around 3:20am Sunday.

Saleh was found shot in the abdomen and was rushed to Cornell Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police say he was gunned down when an unknown suspect fired several shots from a moving car as he was stood on the sidewalk outside of a deli.

A 25-year-old man, Johnathan Distant, was shot and killed an hour laters on 183 street in Brookville, Queens, at 4:30am.

Distant was shot in the lower back and later pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital, police said.

No arrests have been made in any of the deadly shootings.

Neighbors of Holley at his previous home, a city-run temporary housing unit in Harlem, told the NY Daily News that the 36-year-old was ousted from the residence in July after breaking a window on the first floor.

Neighbors of Holley at his previous home, a city-run temporary housing unit in Harlem, told the NY Daily News that the 36-year-old was ousted from the residence in July after breaking a window on the first floor.

Several others were also shot and wounded across the city early Sunday, including a double shooting in Queens, when a 22-year-old man was shot in the shoulder, and a 24-year-old male was shot in both the shoulder at buttocks at 1:10am on Corona Avenue and 90th Street in Elmhurst.

Both victims were taken to Elmhurst hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. A 23-year-old man was taken into custody for the incident, and a gun was found.

Two more people were shot in a second double shooting on University Avenue in The Bronx after 4am. A 51-year-old male was shot in the left hand and a second man, 48, was hit in his right leg.

Police say the shooting may have been the result of a gambling game gone violent.

At least one witness said that the men had been playing dice before the gun shots rang out, and dice were also found at the scene.

Both injured men were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital but refused to cooperate with investigators, police said.

A 29-year-old was also wounded by two gunshots to his buttock on West 137th Street in Harlem at 4:30am.

According to the NY Post, more than 50 people were injured in at least 38 shootings over the past week, well above the 16 shootings during the same period last year.

The spree has become the latest sign of escalating gun violence in the Big Apple, with the number of recorded shootings already exceeding the number reported in the whole of last year.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk