FIRST ONLINE

West 238th shooting becomes precinct's fourth murder

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A 22-year-old Manhattan man shot in the head overnight Friday on Broadway near West 238th Street has died.

Officials with the New York Police Department identified the man as Nicolas Vargas Jr., who lived on East 14th Street, near Manhattan's East Village. Officers found Vargas unconscious just after midnight Friday inside a vehicle near West 238th, with a gunshot wound to the head. 

Vargas was rushed to Allen Hospital, where he later died. 

No arrests have been made, but police do want to talk to two women who they said fled the scene of the shooting with a person believed to have pulled the trigger. Officials haven't provided any details of the women, but did provide a photo as well as security camera footage, which can be found here.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at (800) 577-8477, or log on to the Crime Stoppers website at NYPDCrimestoppers.com. They also can text tips to 274637, and then entering "TIP577."

All calls, police say, are confidential.

This is the fourth homicide in the 50th Precinct this year, surpassing the three murders hitting the community last year. On April 13, police were called to 2829 Sedgwick Ave., to find a man with stab wounds to his thigh, and who ultimately succumbed to his injuries. 

That same weekend, two men were shot at 5240 Broadway, with one — identified as Keith Bailey — dying.

Then in July, a Connecticut man was arrested in the murder of Juan Flores at 2856 Webb Ave., considered to be crime involving a jilted lover. 

50th Precinct, NYPD, New York Police Department, Nicolas Vargas Jr., Keith Bailey, Juan Flores,