Weekend Shootings in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens

Last week, the Mayor and other city officials announced a new public service campaign to highlight the new penalties for illegal gun possession in New York, such as longer mandatory minimum sentences of 3.5 years. Citizens Crime Commission of NYC president Richard Aborn said during the press conference, "Almost 70 percent of murders in New York City are committed with firearms and the vast majority of those weapons are illegal." As it happened, there were many shootings this past weekend:

- A 10-year-old boy at a playground near the Samuel Gompers Houses at Pitt and Rivington Streets was shot last night around 10PM. The boy, who was shot in the arm, is in stable condition, and the Post and Daily News both characterize the wound as being from a "stray bullet." A witness told the News, "He wasn't the target. They were shooting randomly," as at least three shots were heard. Another witness told the Post the boy's mother went to help him, "screaming, 'Animals! Animals!'... He's a little kid. It's such a stupid thing." The police are looking for suspects. The 7th Precinct is actually just a few blocks from the Samuel Gompers Houses down Pitt Street.

- A man was killed during a traffic dispute in Fort Greene around 330 Hudson Walk. The NY Times spoke to the mother of Edwin Roman, who said that a car cut off her son around 4AM yesterday morning. Roman and the other car's driver got out and argued, only for the other driver to take a chain from Roman and then shot him.

- Twenty-four-year-old Marcos Cateyano, who was a maintenance supervisor at the Police Athletic League, was shot dead while another man was injured during shooting at the Riverdale Housing projects in Brownsville. Cayetano and Javier Figueroa were cleaning up after a party around 5AM yesterday when the shooting began; according to the News, they "were inside a tunnel that runs from the courtyard to the street." A woman said one of the bullets made it to her 5th floor bedroom, "Right now, I'm in fear, and I want to know how to get out of this place."

- And the police arrested a 17-year-old who was shooting at someone else before firing at cops Saturday night. Newsday reports that two police officers on foot patrol around Sutphin Boulevard and 122nd Avenue in Jamaica "when they happened upon Smith and the other male firing at one another." Smith fired his gun at the police, prompting the officers to return fire. Smith was arrested and charged with a number of crimes, including attempted murder. The NYPD will further investigate the circumstances of the shooting, including "how many rounds were fired by police and Smith, and whether the other man fired at officers."

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By Jen Chung in News on July 23, 2007 8:04 AM

Comments [rss]

guest

Emily,

Yeah, they're mindless automatons predestined to a life of petty thuggery because their mama is black and they grew up in the projects. Clearly nothing else can be done unless we flip the entire system over. Right. The fact is, until we start including "the victims" in our ongoing blame game, no progress will be made. So long as ghetto culture is given a pass by people who can't bare to even vaguely imply that some of the problems with inner-city youth are self-inflicted, the hamster wheel will keep spinning.

guest

Molon Labe.

3.5 years? I can do that standing on my head. I have nothing to lose. 3.5 years and three squares is like disneyworld to me. and I get to work out.

again, I have nothing to lose.

emilydickinson

Kevin Bracken: I completely agree with everything you're saying, and I feel that is the most intelligent solution to the firearms issue. We can have the strictest gun control laws in the world, but if you can drive an hour to PA and buy whatever you want at K-Mart, out strict laws mean very little.

#4: You're totally off base about 'teen pregnancy'. Do a little research before you spout off. Teen pregnancy in NYC has been dropping steadily for quite a while. Besides, do you really feel comfortable blaming an uneducated teenager caught in a bad situation for societies woes? I also grew up ghetto in NYC in the 80's, which I think makes me less judgmental towards those people who've caught tough breaks.

guest

Mandatory minimum sentence for owning a gun and firing in self-defense = 3.5 years

Mandatory minimum sentence for owning a gun and never firing it = 3.5 years

Mandatory minimum sentence for rape = 0 days

guest

Good thing we have such strict gun control here.

guest

"The 'bad guys' are created by conditions of poverty and desperation, problems that have social and political solutions."

Bullshit. Teenage mothers spitting out unwanted babies by the dozen who grow up without a father or any self esteem with no one to look up to but rappers and local thugs = an army of degenerate bastards shooting each other in the streets.

Of course farty ivory tower douchebags who live miles and miles away from "the ghetto" will always disagree.

I'm working-class and grew up in S8 housing. There are opportunities for those who decide to skip hanging out in front of the liquor store on saturday nights and ignore peer pressure to act like petty thugs and outmoded macho men.

ed_Extinct

who was hootin' and hollerin abbout more low-income housing in manhattan and brooklyn? yeah... lets not discuss that shit anymore. there's no need.

the problem here is the jail sentence. they're poor, they break the law with illegal guns, we award them 3.5 years? is that a joke? how about 15.5 years (no parole). second offense: death.

guest

As long as they keep their violence in the ghetto and public housing complexes I'm not too concerned.

Ahhhh, gotta love these warm summer nights.....

Kevin Bracken

No arguments here! Although without nationwide gun control, weapons will continue to pour in from the South.

I believe it's called the "iron highway" or something.

Can anybody honestly say "if more New Yorkers were armed, they could stop the bad guys?"

The "bad guys" are created by conditions of poverty and desperation, problems that have social and political solutions.

If more people were armed, more disputes would turn into gunshots. End of story.