Posted on 25 October 2009.
Do you know of neighborhood services that have helped you, or people who you know, through gang issues? Leave the information in the comments or email it to sunsetparkchron@gmail.com.
On August 30th, Deputy Inspector Jesus Raul Pintos sat in his office. He felt good. Crime was down in the 72nd Precinct. He had only one murder on his books for 2009. One day later, he had three.
Posted in CrimeComments (8)
Posted on 15 October 2009.
Click on the map above for a larger view of commuter van stops
Updated 16 Oct, 2009
Things are tough in Sunset Park. A quarter of the South Brooklyn neighborhood’s residents live below the poverty line. Since August 31st, 5 men under 25 have been murdered, 4 in gang-related violence. At the 72nd Precinct’s Community Council on Tuesday, things got heated–about vans.
“Dollar Vans” are big business in Brooklyn’s Chinatown. For $2.50, they’ll take you to Manhattan. For $4, you can make it to Flushing. The growing Chinese community along 8th Ave depends upon this service daily. More than 60 licensed vans appear each morning to shuttle people through the city.
Posted in Crime, Politics, developmentComments (4)
Posted on 09 October 2009.
Note–earlier, the headline incorrectly says “Gang-Related” stabbing. I have since discovered that is not the case. See more here.
One man was stabbed to death and two others injured during a gang fight in Sunset Park, according to Tuesday’s New York Post Police Blotter. On Sunday night at 61 Street and 7th Ave an unidentified victim was “slashed in the arm.” He was taken to Lutheran Hospital, where he died from his injuries. Two others, also stabbed, were listed as stable.
The Post reported that Nelson Liu, 19, was picked up for murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Police have arrested a second person in connection with the crime, according to the blog Best View in Brooklyn.
Posted in Crime, EventsComments (2)
Posted on 28 September 2009.
Two men were shot and killed in the early hours of September 20th at 40th street and 4th avenue in Sunset Park, as reported in the New York Daily News and the blog Best View in Brooklyn.
I followed with Commanding Officer Jesus Pintos at the 72nd precinct:
Ignacio Mendez, 18, and Carlos Flores Rojas, 21, had finished what witnesses have described as a late dinner at the Star Mexicana on 4th Ave at about 4am on Sunday morning. As they left, one male with his face partially covered approached them, yelled something, and proceeded to shoot. Mendez was shot in the head and neck. He died at the scene. Rojas was shot in the back was rushed to Lutheran Medical Center, where he died soon after. The police have not yet apprehended the shooter.
Pintos said that they had no proof that this shooting had a gang affiliation. It is the second double murder in Sunset Park in four weeks.
The first took place within Sunset Park on August 31st at 8:30pm, when a 16-year old approached and shot two other young men in the face. Both died.
Police arrested the shooter soon after the crime. Officer Pintos said that although the police believe these murders had a gang affiliation, they were not gang motivated. In other words, it may have come from a conflict between individuals who had gang ties, but no gang “ordered” these killings and they were not a manifestation of gang-on-gang violence.
Even with the recent spate of killing, the murder rate in Sunset Park has risen only slightly from last year, and is 61 percent lower than in 1993. Pintos the rates of most of seven major indicator crimes are still down compared to this time last year. That means fewer burglaries, robberies and assaults. (Interestingly, rape stats are up from last year, with ten rapes to date in the precinct as compared with six at this time in 2008.)
“We are putting a lot of resources” into these investigations, said Pintos, “and concentrating on crime fighting efforts.” In addition to increased patrols, the police plan to hold gang-awareness seminars for parents in the neighborhood.
Posted in CrimeComments (5)
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