Norwood News

A small stretch of Valentine Avenue in Bedford Park is the latest hot spot in the 52nd Precinct, following a shooting last weekend and a recent series of brazen graffiti hits.

Bedford Park is generally considered one of the most stable and safe neighborhoods in the 52nd Precinct, but the short corridor on Valentine, between East 204th Street and East 203rd Street, is becoming increasingly volatile.

On Saturday night, shortly before 10:45 p.m., three gunshots rang out. Minutes later, a young man came into the Sweet Valentine grocery near the corner of East 203rd Street and Valentine, dripping blood from both his arms, according to Praxedes (she declined to give her last name), whose husband has owned the store for the past 27 years.

Praxedes immediately called the police while the young man, who she described as a regular neighborhood kid in his 20s, waited, dripping blood all over the floor. Praxedes couldn’t tell if he had been shot, but the young man returned the next day to thank her for calling the police. He didn’t go into any detail about what happened, she said.

Police couldn’t be reached by press time for details, but other residents said police and other detectives were investigating the block until at least 1 a.m.

Fernando Tirado, the district manager of Community Board 7, which has its offices nearby on East 204th Street, hadn’t heard about the shooting on Tuesday, but said the graffiti problem in the area was getting out of hand.

Tirado said besides that one stretch, the area is very calm. “This block is very problematic,” he said. “There is a lot of illegal activity, a lot of youth and young men hanging out at all hours of the night. More should be done to control the activity.”

Nikki, who declined to give her last name, has lived on East 203rd Street for six years in a first floor apartment. She heard the shots on Saturday night and said there is a lot of drug and gang activity and that it’s not a safe block.

“They need police surveillance around here,” Nikki said. “The drug activity is a little too much.”

-Reporting by Ivonne Salazar