Gun Recovered Near UWS Murder Site Raises More Questions

A day after investigators revealed they hadn't found the gun used in the grisly killings that rocked the Upper West Side last week, police recovered a bloody handgun near the Amsterdam Avenue crime scene. But the .380-caliber Beretta that police discovered was wedged between two trash bags in a garbage can about half a block from the place where the suspected gunman fell to his death from a fire escape, raising questions about how the firearm turned out in the garbage can and who put it there.

It's remains unclear if the newly found pistol was the weapon used in the slayings of Carlos Rodriguez Sr. and Carlos Rodriguez Jr. in their apartment. A similar gun was found inside the residence next to a lock box containing $100,000 of heroin, but ballistics tests revealed it wasn't the weapon used in the killings. The third victim, 87-year-old Fernando Gonzalez, was killed using a knife that was recovered at the scene.

Police suspect that Hector Quinones — who knew Carlos Sr. from a stint in prison — killed the three men in a dispute over drugs before falling to his death when he tripped on his baggy pants while fleeing police. Police believe that Quinones acted alone. "Our investigative premise is that the perp either hid the gun somewhere in the apartment before he fell from the fire escape, or he fell with the gun with him and that a bypasser or someone with access to the backyard stole the gun before the police arrived," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the Daily News.

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By Ben Muessig in News on December 20, 2009 3:45 PM

Comments [rss]

ozik

It is sad when people don't observe simple bear safety rules: making noise, don't keep food near the camp, no heroine in the pic-a-nic baskets...

adpwnage

Am I the only person to feel that someone else was involved in this? Who exactly trips and falls to their death like something out of Hot Shots? I think the second killer pushed the other guy out so to cover his trail. He probably stole half the money & left half of it there so it looks botched. I mean...did they ever say that there was money or heroin on the actual dead perp? Wasn't it still in the apartment...the whole thing sounds so fishy.

Snoopy

As the saying goes, "Garbage in. Garbage out."

inoyourider

Who cares what was in the garbage?

The real trash has already been taken out.

Merry Christmas to New York.

Do the kids a favor and take them away from their garbage mothers. Maybe in a foster home they would have a chance of not turning out to be garbage like their real parents were.

JacqueMehoff

the other paragraph from the post states that a similar gun was found in the apartment. and still no videotape, just like the marriot shooting, oh we get tape of it after the fact but not while guns ablaze.

Guest

bloody hand gun? the former baggy-jean-wearing-shooter probably threw it away in the middle of his killings b/c it isn't, uhm, stylish to have your gun blood-soaked; it just doesn't go well with the "steez" of someone wearing a nice pair of baggy jeans. it does, however, go well with psychos with a normal pair of jeans, probably with a mohawk, chains and all.

Guest

what a tragedy though. my condolences.

Guest

this is straight out of a carl hiassen novel.

on a more serious note, i think what happened was that the killer probably killed a bunch of people some time before the last victim arrived at the scene. the killer had wanted to get away so he walked half a block and disposed his gun there. and he probably had a spare gun which he shot the last victim with, whom i believe is still alive.

and if this is true, it probably took some time for the cops to arrive there, which says something about the response time.

just a theory.

whitecastlerock

if only the perpetrator was wearing skin tight hipster jeans...

Snoopy

Did you ever see a hipster run? Now you know why.

Just look at the ad above. Do you think Josh has the ability to outrun Sara?

NannyState

He would have tripped down that fire escape trying to put them on.

Snoopy

I believe James bond used one of those in an early movie but of a smaller caliber, 22 short I believe. It's nice for a starter pistol but doesn't have much stopping power in the smaller caliber. He was told to move up to a Walther PPK of a 9mm caliber because it was more reliable for the business he was in.

It appears that a local concerned citizen picked up the pistol and was considering recycling same until he found out he was holding a pistol that was used in a triple homicide. Even the dumbest of thugs still have some intelligence.

jaycjay

Seems plausible that someone could have found the gun and picked it up, then found out later that it had been used in those killings so police would be looking for it... so dumped it in that garbage can.

jaycjay

"the grizzly killings that rocked the Upper West Side"

What? Not only are there rabid raccoons in Central Park, no somebody is killing bears on the UWS?

silver

If you want to go bear hunting try the LES.

jaycjay

Make that "now somebody is killing..."

JacqueMehoff

that's a nice gun for a convict.

Rebecca

I wonder if the first responders were actually on a break.

Skunky

it's "grisly" not "grizzly". Unless you're talking about a bear attack.

ozik

It is sad when people don't observe simple bear safety rules: making noise, don't keep food near the camp, no heroine in the pic-a-nic baskets...