Excitement to Upper West Siders is the Thanksgiving Day Parade or needing to navigate between puking ex-frat/sorority boys and girls on Amsterdam, so hearing gunfire at Columbus and West 86th Street was a shock. Delfin Aviles was suspected in stealing $30,000 in construction tools last month, and yesterday morning, a van with the tools was spotted, leading the police to approach him. Aviles, in turn, tried to run over the police officers. The police found him on the Upper West Side last night, thanks to a cellphone tracking device, and shot Aviles in the leg. He actually made it another block, near the West 86th B and C subway station, before police apprehended him, where they found out the supposed gun in Aviles' hand was a flashlight. With Aviles in custody, residents took to the streets, to examine the blood stains on the sidewalks and offer local news media soundbites. Gothamist was impressed by the bus riders who instinctively ducked down and moved to the back of the bus when they heard the shots.
Read more about the detective work it took to find Aviles at Newsday.
