The family of a 46-year-old man shot to death in Brooklyn is struggling to cope with the fresh tragedy nine years after the victim’s mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver in front of their home, the man’s brother told the Daily News.
Marcin Iwanowicz was blasted in the chest around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday outside a methadone clinic he was visiting near Powell St. and Belmont Ave. in Brownsville, according to cops and the victim’s family.
“It’s shocking because it’s Christmas Eve morning. He got shot for nothing,” said Iwanowicz’s brother, Cezary Iwanowicz, 41. “I’m basically in shock.”
The shooting happened a desolate stretch of sidewalk next to the St. Jude Treatment Center, a substance abuse rehab facility the victim was visiting. No arrests have been made.
Marcin was taking methadone to help with an addiction he developed after injuring his shoulder, according to his brother.
“He wasn’t working because he was disabled,” Cezary said. “He went to the program because he wanted methadone. He had an addiction to painkillers. Methadone can help with that. He never came back. He had been in the program for years.”
“The family has endured more than one sudden tragedy,” the brother added.
On Oct. 8, 2016, the brothers’ mother, Krystyna Iwanowicz, was run over by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street in front of the family’s Midwood apartment building.
The driver, Joseph Zayats, then 22, struck her with a Jeep SUV, catapulting her into the air. Zayats, a Hatzolah EMT, then abandoned the vehicle and ran away from the scene before turning himself in the next day.
In 2017, Zayats pleaded guilty to a sole count of misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident and was sentenced to two years’ probation and $588 in fines and fees, according to court records.
Now the family is reeling from a new tragedy.
“I only found out last night at 9 p.m., already 12 hours after it happened,” Cezary said of his brother’s shock slaying. “The police didn’t tell us much, just that he was shot and didn’t make it.”
Cezary thinks his brother got in an argument with someone outside the clinic when he went for treatment.
“He was a good guy,” he said. “Everyone has faults, but he was a good person.”
Marcin left the family’s apartment around 6 a.m. Wednesday and said he would be back by 10 a.m., his father, Stanislaw Iwanowicz, tearfully told News 12 Brooklyn. When Marcin didn’t return hours later, his dad started calling him repeatedly — but his son never responded. Finally, the family heard from cops.
“I didn’t sleep all night,” the father told the station. “I just cried half of the night. I didn’t eat nothing.”
Marcin spoke to the Polish Daily News following his mother’s death. Krystyna, 64, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and used a walker, was “very slow and cautious” when walking, “always waiting for the cars to stop … to make sure it’s safe to cross the street,” he said at the time.
His mother was on her way to feed homeless cats, which she did every day, when she was struck, Marcin told the outlet. “It [was] one of the few pastimes in [her] life,” he said.
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