Bed-Stuy Aquarium co-creator sentenced to prison for Brooklyn shooting

January 7, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Fish swim in a pool of water next to a fire hydrant in Brooklyn, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. AP Photo/Pamela Smith

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BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — THE CO-FOUNDER OF THE BED-STUY AQUARIUM, a makeshift goldfish pond that went viral, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Jan. 3, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced in a release. Hajj Lovick, 48, was convicted last month of second-degree attempted murder for opening fire outside Lover’s Rock, a neighborhood bar, and striking a 51-year-old man in the leg early in the morning on June 15, 2023. Lovick had engaged in a dispute with the man, feigning using a knife against him. After the dispute cooled down, Lovick returned minutes later with a gun, firing twice at the victim and several bystanders and striking the victim once in his right shin.

“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that senseless acts of gun violence have no place in Brooklyn,” Gonzalez said. “The defendant’s decision to open fire over a petty argument not only caused serious harm to the victim but endangered innocent lives in our community.”

The aquarium’s fate is unclear and its goldfish have been moved for now, Gothamist reports.

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