An elderly member of the Grucci fireworks family shot his grandson yesterday after a heated argument over noise. Joseph Grucci, the cousin of former Republican congressman and fireworks magnate Felix Grucci, got into a fight with his grandson, Christopher Giresi, when Giresi had some friends over around 3 a.m. Thursday night and repeatedly refused to keep the noise down. Grucci told cops his grandson actually attacked him when he told the youngins to shut up; after that, Grucci got his shotgun and fired at the 20-year-old from about 20 feet away in his Bellport, Long Island home. more ›

The five teenagers charged with disrupting a religious service after honking their horns, yelling obscenities and firing a shotgun outside the World Sufi Foundation in Carlton, NY were slapped with more misdemeanor charges at their court appearance yesterday. All five were charged with first-degree harassment, and 18-year-old Dylan Phillips was charged with third-degree assault and leaving the scene of a personal injury incident for sideswiping a worshiper as he drove away. However, a prosecutor is holding off classifying their actions as a hate crime. more ›

Two 17-year-olds and three 18-year-olds have been arrested in Carlton, NY for harassing worshipers and yelling obscenities outside the World Sufi Foundation mosque after Ramadan services on Monday. One reportedly fired his shotgun outside, and as they drove away their cars they hit mosque member David Bell, leaving him with cuts on his hip. Bell told YNN, “I’m just grateful that things weren’t worse last night, which they easily could’ve been." more ›

Former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the 2002 death of his limo driver, Costas Christofi, who was killed by a shotgun blast at close range. Williams — who last week was charged with drunk driving after crashing his Mercedes SUV on the FDR — will serve 18 months to five years in prison, and will be eligible for parole in 18 months, NY1 reports. more ›

"Tweets" sound so cute and innocent, but it turns out they can do some real damage. The case against a young man in Harlem, accused of killing a childhood friend on Jan. 3 may rely heavily on short, angry posts exchanged between the two. "N-----s is lookin for u don't think I won't give up ya address for a price betta chill asap!" wrote the suspected murderer, just hours before the fatal shooting. According to the Daily News, lawyers will now try to prove that there was bad blood between the former schoolmates by citing their aggressive Tweets. more ›

The Post reports, "The NYPD's entire fleet of Highway Patrol officers was pulled from their posts and rushed to a Bronx firing range yesterday because of a malfunction discovered with their shotguns, sources said." The malfunction, discovered a training session at the firing range, involves "problems with the firing pin that prevented the gun from discharging" and "All 75 Mossberg 590A1 shotguns had to be turned in for the older Ithaca 37s." more ›

This video is the greatest demonstration of someone "flipping it" on an adversary that we've seen in some time. Long Island convenience store and gas-station clerk Mustapha Yakupoglu was closing up at midnight Wednesday night when two masked men burst in and pointed a shotgun at his neck, demanding money. But Yakupoglu, who's been robbed twice before, wasn't having it. Check out this deft maneuver, caught by a surveillance camera: more ›

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke about the Harlem shop owner who fired at four armed men trying to rob him and beating one of his employees, killing two of the suspects and injuring the other two. Kelly said of 72-year-old Charles "Gus" Augusto, "He certainly had a right under the law to defend himself, defend his co-workers. It looks like his co-worker could have been seriously injured or perhaps killed." more ›

Yesterday morning, hours after he stared down four armed robbers, begged them to leave, and then fired at them when they started pistolwhipping one of his employees—ultimately killing two of the suspects and injuring the other two—Charles "Gus" Augusto was back at his West 125th restaurant supply store and repeatedly stated he was unhappy that he had to resort to violence. The Daily News got the first interview, and the other papers and news stations followed—the 72-year-old told NY1, "I did the only thing I could do at that time. Tried as long as I could not to, tried to get out of it; they wouldn't let me get out of it," while saying to the Post, "I did what I had to do. It wasn't my choice; it was their choice." more ›

Two men are dead after a Harlem business owner fired at four people trying to rob his store. City Room reports that the owner used a shotgun when the four "tried to rob his restaurant-supply business... The business, the Kaplan Brothers Blue Flame Corporation, at 523 West 125th Street, near Amsterdam Avenue, provides parts and repairs for commercial gas and electric ranges. It was not immediately known whether the robbers were armed, or whether the business owner had a license for the shotgun." The owner is reportedly Charles Augusto Jr., who is 72. more ›