NEW YORK — Police say one man was killed and three were injured when gunmen on scooters opened fire in the Bronx on Tuesday.
It happened around 6:15 p.m. in the Mount Eden section.
4 shot in the Bronx; 1 dead, 3 hurt
Police say four men between the ages of 23 and 37 were standing on the corner of Townsend and East Mount Eden avenues when four individuals on two scooters approached them, driving eastbound on Mount Eden Avenue.
According to police, the two rear passengers pulled out firearms and fired about 10 rounds at the men standing on the corner.
Three victims were shot in the leg and one victim, a 29-year-old man, was shot in the chest and the leg.
The 29-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police say the suspects fled on the scooters, traveling northbound on Townsend towards the Cross Bronx Expressway. All four suspects wore masks and hoodies.
At this time, police have one male in custody, but they are unsure if that individual is directly tied to the shooting.
The investigation is ongoing. Police say the motive is unclear at this time.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
NYPD combatting crimes involving scooters
Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said this month, police have been working with the Community Response Team in the Mount Eden section of the Bronx to aggressively go after individuals on scooters.
“There is a direct relation to people riding around on illegal scooters and committing crimes, and it’s a careful balance for us because there are people legitimately riding around on scooters, working, you know, Uber Eats and different things like that, so it’s a careful selection for us, but we do see both, and it’s hard to differentiate at first, but we do see both,” Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley said.
Daughtry says so far this year, police have made 1,300 arrests involving individuals on scooters and issued 989 summonses to people on scooters.
According to the NYPD, 9,500 illegal scooters, dirt bikes and ATVs have been taken off city streets so far this year, including 2,500 in the Bronx alone.
“We have to give our officers a lot of credit. It takes a skill to apprehend these individuals on scooters. We don’t want our cops chasing them throughout streets because we don’t want to put the public in jeopardy, so we use other things like technology … We have our air support that will follow them, wait ’til they dismount their scooter and they will move in for the apprehension,” Daughtry said. “It’s a skill to go after these scooters, but we don’t want to see cops aggressively chasing them down, you know, Grand Concourse because is it really worth it? So there’s a technique that we have that we use and that we’re getting really good at.”
Daughtry says after Tuesday’s shooting, the department will be bringing the Community Response Team back into the neighborhood, specifically to go after illegal scooters, dirt bikes and ATVs.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem … In this game of public safety, there’s other individuals involved in this game of public safety. We’re just the first person in the public safety game that the criminal comes in contact with. Can the Community Response Team, is that the answer to everything? Absolutely not, 100 percent no. There’s other stakeholders in this game of public safety,” Daughtry said.
“I think when you hold the recidivists accountable, that’s where we get the bang for our buck. We have examples of that, and we’re working with our partners in the DA’s office to do that,” Gurley said.
Police said Tuesday that in the past 28 days, 36 gun arrests have been made in the 44th and 46th NYPD precincts, which cover the southwestern and western parts of the Bronx, and 18 guns were taken of the street in those precincts between April 1-9 alone.