A spate of shootings
It was a grisly spring in Hunts Point and Longwood, with seven shootings between the middle of May and the first week in June.
Around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, police responded to an anonymous tip at the corner of Tiffany and 167 Street. There they found a 32-year-old man lying face down, semi-conscious, with gunshot wounds to his legs and chest. Police also found a 27-year-old victim at the scene, with bullet wounds to his back and legs. There are no suspects, and the case is still under investigation, the NYPD says.
On June 4, 24-year-old Abduel Garcia was shot and killed at the corner of Hoe Ave. and Aldus St. The investigation is ongoing.
On Friday, May 12, around 11 p.m. two men, 27 and 18, were shot in front of a bodega at 1000 Hoe Ave. The 27-year-old was rushed to Lincoln Hospital with gunshot wounds to the neck. Doctors concluded he will be paralyzed for life. The 18-year-old got a bullet in the buttock and was found sitting on a stoop a block away.
On May 11, two teens walking on Hunts Point Ave. were grazed by apparently-stray gunfire around 9:30 p.m.
Dirt bikes
Residents and community board members fired angry questions at two officers from the 41st Precinct at a community board meeting in May, wanting to know why police aren’t taking a tougher stance against reckless dirt bike riders on and around the Bruckner Expressway. The officers responded that pursuing the bikers could lead to wild chases that could endanger pedestrians and other motorists.
“If you start chasing a dirt bike, the guy blows through a red light or a stop sign, you’ve got to worry about public safety,” said Sgt. Neil Cremin. “It’s not that cops are ignoring it,” he said, adding police sometimes issue summonses to reckless riders they have witnessed speeding after they have stopped.
Fatal collision
On May 17, a motorcyclist slammed into a Dept. of Corrections bus transporting 11 prisoners at the corner of Longfellow and Oak Point Aves. in Hunts Point. The driver, 23-year-old Raylin Heredia de la Cruz, of Washington Ave., was killed instantly. The driver and a corrections officer on the bus were treated for trauma. All of the prisoners were unharmed and accounted for.
Bank scam
NYPD says two scammers have been hoodwinking some ATM users at Banco Popular on Southern Boulvd. by telling them the machine they are about to use is not working, then redirecting them to another ATM. The crooks then are able to determine the user’s bank card info and withdraw hundreds in cash.
Jewel heist
Shortly after 10 a.m. on May 19, two men walked into Bronx Bulova Accutron Service on Southern Blvd., and asked the owner in Spanish to repair a watch. One of the men then pulled out a gun. The men tied the owner’s hands behind his back, took him to the back of the store and proceeded to load up with jewels from the safe and the display case. The men, both about 5’10, were seen on surveillance video taken during the act.
