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Monday, September 20, 2010

Arrests Made, But Shootings Continue in the Five-Two

After the shooting (Photo: Greene)

By David Greene and Alex Kratz

A wild, sprawling shootout in the Knox-Gates neighborhood in Norwood last Friday night left four people injured, two of them with gunshot wounds.

None of the injuries were life-threatening and police say the shooters were arrested, but the incident underscores a continuing rise in the number of shooting incidents and victims in the 52nd Precinct, which stretches from Norwood to University Heights.

Through August, not including this incident in Knox-Gates or another shooting on Decature Avenue, there had been 20 shooting in the 52nd Precinct this year, compared to 12 during the same period last year. Last year, through August, there had been 14 victims. This year, not including the latest incidents, there had been 25 victims through August.

“It’s frustrating right now,” said Deputy Inspector John D’Adamo, the commanding officer of the 52nd Precinct.

On Friday night, just before 9 p.m., Sept. 17, police were called to Knox Place, between West Gun Hill Road and West Mosholu Parkway North, with reports of a person shot. When they arrived on the scene, they discovered four people wounded -- two Hispanic teenage males with gunshot wounds and two girls who were injured when they fell while ducking bullets.

The altercation allegedly began at the Twin Donut shop on Jerome Avenue, but police had several crime scenes established along Knox Place, Gates Place and W. Mosholu Parkway North.

D’Adamo said the scenes were established around where police found bullets, but that those involved in the shootout were “running from each other” along Knox Place. He said the alleged shooter was apprehended in a car with a loaded firearm, along with two other suspects, near Harris Field in Bedford Park. One of them, Jose Guzman, 17, was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of firearm, according to a police spokesperson.

D’Adamo said the suspect arrested for the shooting was from Manhattan and that there was a reason he was in the area. Despite the Knox-Gates neighborhood’s reputation for heavy drug trafficking, D’Adamo said the incident did not appear to be drug related.

In 2007, one drug-related shooting left a teenager paralyzed. That same year, another apparently non-drug-related shooting left four young men from Tracey Towers, just across Mosholu Parkway, with gunshot wounds.

One resident who asked not to be identified said, "The police are not patrolling as much as they should, because there are a lot of gangs around here . . . they’re not doing enough."

Earlier last week, police arrested another suspect in a shooting incident at 2860 Decatur Ave.

While shooting incidents continue to pile up, D’Adamo said he’s happy his officers are making arrests and still “extremely proud of the men and women of the 52nd Precinct.”

14 comments:

  1. Two questions:1) who is d'adamo? We never get a full name-- immediately into a last name ? 2) is the 'one resident' really trying to blame the police for these animals shooting each other? How about a little person responsibilty, something that is in a rather short supply in the Bronx.

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  2. Sorry, 1) it's Deputy Inspector John D'Adamo of the 52nd Precinct -- I updated the post. And 2) I think it's tough to blame a shooting like this on the police -- they literally can't be everywhere at once. D'Adamo is obviously frustrated, as he said. Not to mention the story in the Daily News today about the 194 and Valentine being a heroin den. (We hear things have improved there but obviously its not perfect yet). On the plus side, it should be noted, the prostitution problem near St. James Park and Davidson Ave. is much improved, according to residents there. Same with the issues at Devoe Park.

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  3. re prostitution problem: bullshit. it's still there. quite.

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  4. Tragedies like this in indicative of our society today. Our kids are running around aimlessly because there are no funds being injected into the community to keep them out of trouble. Most families are struggling, working hard to keep food on the table or are looking for work and their frustration pushes their children out into the street. We have to work as a community to keep our children safe and out of these senseless shootings. We need to start with the basics, teach our kids respect. I see girls,callling other girls my N$gg, little boys no more than 10 cursing and yelling. How are these kids being raised,by animals? When I grew up even the crack head had more respect than these kids today. I love the Bronx; born and raised and I hate to see that it is turning into a hell hole.

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  5. So anon @ 9:50, it's a lack of "funds being injected into the community" that is causing people to shoot each other? The animals who shoot each other are responsible for shooting people. The deflection of blame and lack of personal responsibility is really appalling in the Bronx.

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  6. First of all, we are all humans. While obviously some people do bad things, that does not take away their humanity. Of course there is personal responsibility -- that is why we have a criminal justice system.

    But do you really think that all of these people (legally children) involved in the shootings were born that way? We are all products of both genetics (nature) and our environment (nurture), the latter of which can be changed and improved, especially in the neighborhood where this incident took place.

    Can we agree that as a society it is much more efficient and just to be preventative when it comes to young people and crime? I think that is the point of anon @9:50.

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  7. Our children are a reflection of what we do and say. Today's parents(or kids having kids) do not instill good morale values anymore. They are too busy trying to have fun instead of teaching their children, reading to them at night, just simply talking at the dinner table. These are core values that in the Bronx have been long forgotten. I remember growing up on Davidson Ave, my family has a long history there and we always new if you crossed that line you were going to get it. These days the kids see the line cross it jump over it they don't care because the parents never taught them to care.

    So again I say I love the Bronx but hate to see it turn to a hell hole.

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  8. I would challenge folks who feel this way to get involved in a tutoring/mentoring type of program. I did this for a number of years at an organization in Hunts Point/Longwood.

    The design of the program was to serve as a surrogate family for the children coming from broken homes, and part of what we had to do was set real boundaries for the children in the program (and sometimes even for the teenagers that were junior counselors). These relationships can make a huge difference in the lives of children who aren't getting what they need at home.

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  9. It so very nice of you to save the world by mentoring. That's what made the little monster pull the trigger - he didn't have a dude with a Jesus complex trying to save him from a society that has conspired against him. Ok, it makes sense now.

    When I was a kid in East New York, I didn't have any mentor (nor a dad) and I didn't shoot people. If I didn't shoot people without having a mentor, imagine if I had been blessed with a tutor like the fellow with two last names. I could have really made something of myself.

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  10. Sorry, I didn't realize that anyone who volunteers, teaches, or does anything with young people has a Jesus complex... my oversight. Thanks for making things clear for me!

    In my former frame of mind, I was merely responding to the comment from anon@1:25...

    "So again I say I love the Bronx but hate to see it turn to a hell hole."

    I guess the non-Jesus-complex answer would be to just sit back, read the news, and call people names like animals and monsters on blogs. What a sweet life!

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  11. @anon 3:02 this is very serious and you can't be shortsighted nor condescending about it.

    if it takes a village to raise a child - and it sure does, then too many components to that Bronx village now are failing him/her, whether it's need for mentoring, a lack of parental support, few available social and sports programs, or motivation in school - which includes unnecessary overemphasis on testing, a lack of quality teachers, and the dearth of expressive programs like music, art, and performance, etc. you think having harris field and macombs closed down has no impact?

    again, you just can't be shortsighted. in plain language: garbage in, garbage out. we have to start investing in instead of ignoring and making assumptions about our youth. there is direct correlation between these things and gangs and shootings. there can be no question about that.

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  12. Why does it have to be the parents or the schools or the police or the community or the volunteers, or...? It does take a village, but the adult members of the village have to respect and support one another. What message do children get from the adults who constantly blame, and even worse, insult everyone who thinks differently? The animal kingdom does a better job with its young, so calling people animals is inaccurate, not insulting. Parents have to be parents. Children need to be taught right from wrong. They also need to be supervised. Teachers have to teach, but they cannot undo the damage done by parents. Police have to be a presence in the community and have to model law-abiding behavior. Volunteers should be respected for the time, effort, and dedication they bring to the organizations in which they serve. They are part of the solution. Those who insult them are part of the problem.

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  13. uh, because it's called civilization! and if the adults are as you describe, then that part of civilization needs to be worked on, not simply written off. and if the schools are underperforming and underserving, then they must also do their part, same with all the other elements.

    so you're correct in assigning blame/concern to those elements, but that doesn't absolve anyone else's responsibilities, including the parents, the schools, the criminal justice and social service communities, etc. let's give young people the maximum, not the minimum. not only is it our responsibility, but the results will be there for us all to benefit from.

    p.s. your thoughts are good and valid. why not give yourself an identity, rather than anonymous? there's nothing wrong with saying what u believe. i like having dialogue with real people on how we can address important problems in the Bronx!

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  14. I'm a Bronx landlord in the Norwood section of the Bronx near where this shooting happened. I hate to see this once beautiful and desirable Norwood community turn ghetto because other landlords are renting to the wrong type of people that degrades the community.

    That's why I refuse to rent to tenants that are on Section 8, Welfare, HASA, Work Advantage or any other public program because the fact of the matter is, the vast majority of these "program" people are on the ghetto side.

    Ultimately it is up to the Landlord to decide who he wants living in his building or not. Poor screening on the landlord's behalf introduces these low lives to the community. Not to mention that if the apartment is rent stabilized, the ghetto tenant will become a permanent fixture of the neighborhood since rent stabilization tenants are entitled to a lease renewal despite them being undesirable or a nuisance to the community. So in short, the combination of poor landlord screening and the pro-tenant law of rent stabilization is a big contributor to the problem. If rent stabilized tenants were not entitled to a lease renewal, all the landlord has to do is send the tenant a 30 day notice that the landlord will not be renewing their lease. Once the lease expires, the ghetto tenants move elsewhere and the problem is removed for his building and neighborhood, hence the cancer is dealt with.

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