The stray bullet that killed 78-year-old great-grandfather Edgar Spence was one of eight rounds fired off in a shootout between two gangs when they encountered each other in the Bronx park where Spence was playing cards, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
A group of about 30 gang members had just attended a vigil in the north Bronx for a member killed in 2023 and were walking south when members of a different gang spotted them near NYCHA’s Mitchell Houses in Mott Haven and opened fire, Kenny said. The gang members coming from the vigil shot back, and Spence was caught in the crossfire, according to Kenny.
“They pull out and start shooting at the group and then they shoot back,” Kenny said. “And then you got this poor guy sitting out there drinking a beer, and he catches one to the chest.”
Spence was in a small park behind his apartment building on Alexander Ave. near E. 135th St. playing cards with friends and enjoying an unseasonably warm night when he was struck in the chest by a stray bullet around 10:30 p.m. on April 16, cops said.
The bullet struck his heart, piercing his aorta, Kenny said.
EMS raced Spence to Lincoln Hospital, but he could not be saved.
A total of eight shots were fired by both groups during the clash, Kenny said.
Cops have identified two of the people involved in the shooting but have not made any arrests yet, Kenny said.
Spence’s grieving son said his dad’s death and the death of little Kaori Patterson-Moore, a 7-month-old who died after being struck in the head by a stray bullet earlier this month, should be a wake-up call for the city.
“There’s a crisis with Black and Brown young people — and they’re just having access to guns and unfortunately nobody’s speaking about the crisis,” Darryl Spence said. “The 7-month-old baby, not long ago. A 78-year-old man … Who else do we need to lose before we realize this is a crisis?”
Neighbors were having a barbecue when shots rang out.
Spence grew up in the Bronx and was enjoying his golden years after working as a plumber for most of his life. He used a mobility scooter since he needed a hip replacement but was otherwise in good health, his family said.
“Nobody deserves to die in their scooter just trying to enjoy their last stage of life, outside,” Darryl said. “He liked to go in the park…. It was people his age there and he felt comfortable with those people. They would sit out there and play their oldies and just kind of enjoy life.”
Rebecca White / New York Daily News
A memorial at the park bench in the Bronx where Edgar Spence, 78, was shot and killed. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
Spence raised six children in the same borough where he grew up, and was a grandfather and a great-grandfather. He lived in an apartment with his daughter in NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses, just steps from where he was shot.
His grandson was on the other side of the park with friends when he heard gunfire, and ran over to see Spence had been shot in the torso, according to Spence’s granddaughter.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Edgar Spence was fatally shot outside an apartment building on Alexander Ave. in the Bronx on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
“He was a great person,” said the granddaughter, who asked not to be named. “He was always playing cards, and just a great role model for everybody around. “(He was) happy, outgoing, loving, caring. Everybody loved him.”
“It’s a park,” she added. “You think that the park is safe to take your children on a nice night — you know, let them run around, get tired before bed.”