3 killed, 2 cops shot in New York gun fight

By Jason Kessler, CNN

(CNN) -- Three people were killed and two police officers were injured in a gun fight in Brooklyn Monday evening -- the latest bloodshed in a violent holiday weekend in New York City that saw at least 48 people shot.

An exchange of gunfire between two men broke out in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood around 9 p.m. Monday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.

Officers patrolling the nearby West Indian Parade and Carnival, the site of an earlier shooting Monday, responded to the scene.

"The officers were fired upon and returned fire," Bloomberg said.

Police identified the gunmen, who both died in the shooting, as Eusi Randy Johnson, 29, and Leroy Webster, 32. Johnson died after Webster shot him in the neck, while Webster was killed by police, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

The dispute started as a fistfight in a hallway, then spilled into the street as it escalated, Bloomberg said. It was not clear what the disagreement was over, the mayor said.

A bullet Webster fired "struck an innocent 56-year-old woman sitting on her stoop two doors down," Bloomberg said. The woman's name was Denise Gay and her daughter was at her side when she died, the mayor said.

After rushing to the scene, officer Omar Medina "was hit by bullet fragments in his left arm and chest," Bloomberg said.

He was taken to a nearby hospital and was in stable condition, police said. A second officer, Avichaim Dicken, received a graze wound on his elbow.

Webster had a lengthy criminal record that included arrests for assault, drugs and guns, Kelly said.

The gun battle comes during a holiday weekend marred by shootings, with 33 people shot on Sunday alone.