This morning at 1 Police Plaza, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly announced a new citywide campaign to combat domestic violence. Beginning today, advertisements will be displayed on bus shelters, phone kiosks, and newsstands across the five boroughs in English, Spanish, and Russian. The objective of these ads, not unlike the familiar "If You See Something, Say Something" posters found throughout the subway system, is to encourage New Yorkers to speak up if they suspect a family member, friend, coworker or neighbor is the victim of domestic violence. “Silence is an accomplice of domestic violence,” said the police commissioner. “That’s why people should heed the message of this campaign, ‘Don’t mind your own business.’” more ›

Last week, a 26-year-old Bronx man on his way home from work was fatally shot by a robber who was after his iPhone. Now police have arrested two men in the death of chef Hwangbum Yang—and police got the break in the case either after someone tried to register the stolen phone, or actually used the phone. more ›

On Tuesday, police officers fired at a murder suspect who allegedly fired once at them in Harlem. It turned out that the suspect, Steven Murray, fired once while the two cops returned fire to the tune of 84 shots. Now one of the cops has explained why: "He kept pointing the gun at us. He’s a bad dude." more ›

Earlier this morning, George Zimmerman was released from Seminole County jail, where he had been in custody for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman's $150,000 bond was paid, and the Orlando Sentinel reports, "The 28-year-old walked out of the jail wearing a brown Pittsburgh Steelers jacket and carrying a brown paper bag. He quickly got into the back seat of a white BMW and was driven away. He did not comment to reporters, who were kept at a distance." more ›

A 22-year-old Queens man fatally shot a 23-year-old Brooklyn man before turning the gun on himself in his East New York apartment yesterday afternoon, according to police. Now two families are grasping for answers—and the fact that a third man appears to have been trapped in a closet in the apartment at the time only raises more questions. more ›

A Queens man appears to have shot his girlfriend in the back of the head last night before turning the gun on himself—a sad story made sadder by the fact the pair were then discovered by their two-year-old son. more ›

The Long Island mother who is accused of killing her 8-year-old disabled daughter with a poisonous dose of peanut M&M's pleaded not guilty to charges yesterday. Veronica Cirella has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her daughter Julie, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant and was confined to a wheelchair. Julie was also apparently deathly allergic to peanuts—and she died July 23 after her mother had given her the peanut M&Ms as a special treat for her participation in their cousin's wedding the following day. more ›

Six months ago Sergey Mamontov, a 50-year-old Russian immigrant from Sheepshead Bay, decided to welcome a roommate into his apartment. But it seems they didn't click, and the unidentified 55-year-old roommate ended up moving into Mamontov's refrigerator. more ›

Yesterday, police arrested a suspect in the death of Joshua Basin, who was fatally hit by an L Train after a verbal and physical altercation with a fellow straphanger spilled onto the subway tracks on Friday night. Charges are pending against 33-year-old homeless man Ryan Beauchamp, but one piece of erroneous information has been corrected: cops told the Village Voice that Beauchamp was NOT associated with Occupy Wall Street, despite early reports by the Post. more ›

Last night, the police released a photograph of the suspect in Friday's L train murder and identified him as Ryan Beauchamp, 33. more ›

This morning an 89-year-old man was found with trauma to his face and his hands bounds with flexicuffs in his home in Queens. The victim, Cuban-born Damaso Llano, was one of the three co-owners of El Mundo Supermarket in Corona (around the corner from the apartment where the body was found). more ›

A week ago, a Staten Island man was fatally stabbed outside of a restaurant where he and his high school sweetheart had been celebrating their recent engagement. Suspect Redinal Dervishaj was tracked down in Chicago this week and arraigned Friday on murder charges in the stabbing of 27-year-old Antonio Lacertosa. Despite fleeing the state after the incident, Dervishaj's lawyer claims that his client acted in self-defense: "I believe there were several people who were potentially attacking my client," lawyer Thomas Reilly said outside Staten Island Criminal Court. "It looks like he has a decent self-defense case." more ›

Last night, a fight between two men spilled from the L train, onto the Bedford Avenue platform, and then onto the subway tracks. What started as a verbal altercation on the train, eventually escalated and resulted in both men falling onto the tracks—while one managed to get out, the other was hit and crushed by a Manhattan-bound train. The victim, Joshua Basin, 20 of Howard Beach, was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, while the other man, described as a white male between 30 and 35 years old, fled. [Update] Police released a sketch of the suspect. more ›

The attorney for the staff sergeant who is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians told reporters yesterday that the military's case is thin. I don't know if the government is going to prove much," John Henry Browne said. "There's no forensic evidence, there's no confessions." Browne also denied that his client was drunk ("A couple of sips of somebody else's bottle. But that's not drinking,") and that financial troubles caused him to "snap," as the military has suggested. "99 percent of America has financial problems. You don't go and kill women and children because you have financial problems." He added, "Nothing really justifies killing women and children in a non-combat situation. But there may be explanations." more ›

Early Sunday morning a Queens mother of two of was killed when she was shot 20 times while sitting on the stoop in front of her home. According to the NY Post, at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday Sandra Bajnath, 39, accidentally bumped into an unidentified woman while at the Food Hut Restaurant and Bar on Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Park with her husband Anthony Tika and her cousin Sean Seepaul. The trio left soon after to avoid a scene when Bajnath's apology was apparently rejected, retiring to drink on her stoop outside her 135th St home, two blocks away from Food Hut. more ›

The soldier who allegedly shot or stabbed 16 Afghan civilians—including nine children—has been identified as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. He is being held in a cell at Fort Leavenworth's military prison, where he is awaiting possible criminal charges. The murders, which occurred last Sunday, have further pushed Washington's relations with Afghanistan into crisis-mode. more ›

The prosecution and the defense have rested their cases in the murder trial of Joel Herrera, the Lower East Side man accused of fatally stabbing Glenn Wright, 20, because he allegedly mistook Wright for someone else. Most of Wednesday was spent on a criminalist with the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, who testified that no blood had been found on a sample from the blade of a knife recovered near the scene of the crime. But both Herrera and Wright's DNA were found on blue jeans, a sneaker and a black t-shirt belonging to Herrera, who claims that he was running home because of a nosebleed when police stopped him that fateful evening back in September 2009. more ›

Police arrested the two men suspected of killing—and tying and gagging—a man in his Chelsea apartment: The Post reports, "Ex-con Edwin Faulkner, 30, and suspected cohort Juan Carlos Martinez-Herrera, 26, were caught without incident by the NYPD’s Manhattan Violent Felony Squad at a home in Orlando at about 11:30 a.m. and are awaiting an extradition hearing, sources said." more ›

The young man on trial for fatally stabbing a stranger whom he mistook for someone else was splattered in blood when police apprehended him shortly after the murder, an officer testified yesterday. Joel Herrera, who is accused of fatally stabbing Glenn Wright because he thought Wright had stolen from his cousin, is currently on trial for murder in the second degree. Yesterday the officers who arrested him testified that Herrara claimed he just had a bloody nose when they caught him. more ›

Author Bret Easton Ellis took to Twitter early this morning and began spitballing ideas for a sequel (or prequel?) to his most popular work, American Psycho. "Well, if this American Psycho sequel pans out I'd get in touch with my agent first but will have to spend the weekend seeing if it works…" he writes. Maybe Patrick would invite Scott Disick over to listen to Sports? Either way, he was taking suggestions for the book, (but won't credit them) so tell Ellis whether you think Patrick would wear Vineyard Vines or Brooks Brothers madras shorts when summering on Fire Island. more ›

A 14-year-old Jersey City boy is being charged with aggravated manslaughter after he allegedly shot and killed his 12-year-old half-brother, Hassan George, last month and then tried to cover it up by dragging the dying boy's body out into the street. It seems the older boy was playing with his mother's semi-automatic when he shot Hassan in the chest. Police say there was not bad blood between the two. more ›

After receiving an anonymous 911 call, police found a 24-year-old—with a bullet in her head—outside her Brooklyn apartment building. Kazan Raoul was apparently shot in the head and arm in the basement of her Strauss Street apartment in Brownsville, but she managed to make it outside and collapse on the sidewalk. And the authorities say that an ex-boyfriend had recently violated a restraining order Raoul had against him. more ›

The man found murdered, bound and gagged, in his West 22nd Street apartment was seen walking to the building's elevator with two Latino men on Friday night. The Wall Street Journal reports, "The tenant told police that on a separate occasion he saw the same men waiting in the lobby for [victim John] Laubach and invited them to his apartment, but grew uncomfortable and asked them to leave, the official said. The tenant is helping police compose a sketch of the two men." more ›

Police are currently searching for the brother of a Brooklyn woman who was beaten to death with a chair leg Saturday afternoon. According to police, they responded to a 911 call of a woman screaming in Ditmas Park. When they arrived at the scene after 3 p.m., 43-year-old Heather Wright was unconscious. She was later pronounced dead by EMS when they arrived at the scene. more ›