SURVIVOR:EMTs aid Crystal Birk yesterday after she was shot, allegedly by her uncle, in Brooklyn (Paul Martinka)
An elderly Brooklyn man allegedly shot and killed his sister yesterday when she tried to evict him, law-enforcement sources said.
William Thurmond, 70, was taken into custody at the East Flatbush house after he allegedly gunned down his sister and grazed his niece at around 10 a.m., the sources said.
Thurmond was taken to the 67th Precinct station house in Brooklyn where he was charged with criminally negligent homicide.
Investigators believe the bloodshed was sparked when Carol Lovell, 63, and her daughter, Crystal Birk, 37, tried to evict him for not paying his share of the rent, the sources added.
The women, who live upstairs, confronted Thurmond in the basement, police sources said.
They argued, and Thurmond allegedly shot Lovell in the chest and grazed his niece in the head, law-enforcement sources said.
Lovell was pronounced dead at the hospital. Birk was expected to be released from the hospital last night. A firearm was recovered at the scene, cops said.
Neighbors said Thurmond kept to himself.
“He always looked strange to me,” said Yanick Puzo, 60, adding that Thurmond underwent dialysis treatment three times a week. “He was a sick person.”
Thurman was reclusive on the otherwise tight-knit block, and opted out of joining his neighbors for block parties, tea parties and “stoop nights” where jazz bands perform, a neighbor said.
“He didn’t participate in none of that stuff,” said Patrick Puzo, 41, Yanick’s son.
“He looked like he was crazy,” Patrick said. “Ever see Nick Nolte’s DUI mug shot? He looks like that . . . He didn’t speak to nobody. He didn’t say ‘hi’ to nobody.”
Thurmond was often spotted hanging outside the house, neighbors said.
“He’s just a quiet guy, he doesn’t talk much,” said neighbor Roland Roberts. “He’s always sweeping the street, and making the front of his house look clean.”
At least one said she was surprised by the allegation.
“He’s a very quiet, well reserved older man,” said neighbor Grace Henry. “It’s not in his nature. He’s very helpful, very kind to the neighbors.”
According to Henry, Thurmond told her his sister wanted him out of the house.
“He felt like they didn’t want him in house, that they wanted to force him out,” Henry said, adding that Thurman grew up in the building. “He acted like he was hurt.”
Birk was taken out in a wheelchair with a bandaged head and a bloody hand while Lovell was removed on a stretcher.
Relatives mourned the woman’s death.
“My family is grieving the loss of my mother,” said Inge Birk.
The shootings shocked residents of the tree-lined neighborhood, which was voted the greenest block in the borough in 2011 by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
“I’m really surprised, this neighborhood is like an oasis,” said Roslyn Hunter, 64, who lives across the street, and knew both victims. “It’s horrible to see somebody you know who just got shot in the head. It’s a terrible thing.”