Police: Investigation into fatal shooting outside Tropics in Schenectady continues; Help sought

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

A Mohawk Ambulance EMT performs CPR on a gun shot victim in the parking lot of the Tropics Restaurant & Bar on Brandywine Avenue on Sept. 5. Three people in total were shot that night.

SCHENECTADY – The case of a 23-year-old Albany man who died of gunfire in the parking lot of a bar early Sunday remains under investigation.

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The two surviving victims who also suffered gunshot wounds are still at Albany Medical Center in stable condition, and both are cooperating with the investigation, Officer Patrick Irwin, the department spokesman, said Tuesday.

The homicide victim, E-Shawn Amir Berkley, was found in the parking lot of Tropics Bar and Restaurant, 201 S. Brandywine Ave. with a gunshot wound to his chest early Sunday. Berkley was pronounced dead at Ellis Hospital.

The two other victims were a 27-year-old woman in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to her leg, and a 22-year old man who arrived at Ellis Hospital with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

Neither victim was identified.

It’s unknown if there are any suspects. The police spokesman said he could not release any additional information about the case, citing the ongoing homicide investigation, the city’s first of the year.

The business was open Tuesday afternoon, but a message left for the owner wasn’t returned.

Berkley had been due in Albany County Court Sept. 23 for sentencing on a plea deal for second-degree hindering prosecution, a charge that had been reduced from two counts of attempted murder stemming from a shooting incident that resulted in injuries to two men on Oct. 19, 2020, according to a court clerk.

The Schenectady Police Department issued a statement Tuesday urging anyone who was at Tropics Bar and Restaurant during the homicide to come forward and call detectives at 518-388-5245, or the TIPS Line at 518-788-6566.