BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V1 Brittany Davis addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

City Councilmember Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14) joined cure violence group, Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence (B.R.A.G.) and several other cure violence groups at a rally at St. James Park in Fordham Manor on Friday, March 6.

 

The event was held in response to the nonfatal shooting that took place there on Tuesday, March 3, as reported, in which a 35-year-old man was hospitalized.

 

BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V2 Councilmember Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14) addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

Various speakers from various other cure violence groups, in addition to B.R.A.G., including RTG (Release the Group) / Bronx Connect, Guns Down, Life Up, Elite Learners, Inc, and more, also addressed those gathered, encouraging those involved in gangs and street violence not to retaliate, to seek support and help from those offering it, and to avail instead of opportunities to better their lives.

 

The various cure violence groups form part of the City’s Crisis Intervention Team which, as reported, is part of the NYC Office to Prevent Gun Violence, and is designed to work with young people, residents, community-based organizations, and the public to promote safer streets and new norms where violence is not accepted.

BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V3 Councilmember Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14) addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

Speaking in both Spanish and English, Sanchez talked about coming out to rallies “again and again” in the wake of shootings, and about the activities organized in the park, along with graduation ceremonies held in schools, all in efforts to encourage young people to find another path and help prevent gun violence.

 

“We are one community, and anyone who’s picking up a gun or who is deciding to be violent in our neighborhood is somebody’s sister, is somebody’s brother, is somebody’s family member,” she said. “So, if you are listening to this right now, if you are living on this block or you are on any block in our neighborhood, remember it starts with you.”

BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V4 Jessica Carabaya addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

The councilmember continued, “Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your cousins. Tell them there is another path.” Sanchez went on to talk about growing up in the area, how she still lives there, and despite the challenges the neighborhood presented to her growing up, how she ended up attending prestigious universities like Harvard and Princeton, and even, as reported by Norwood News, later worked in the White House before being elected to public office.

 

BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V5 Primo, a hospital responder, addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

“This is just an example of the power and the resilience of our neighborhood,” Sanchez said. “When B.R.A.G. comes out here and they talk about the recording studio, they talk about their work to stop the violence, to stop retaliation, that’s Step 1 in our community, but Step 2 through 10 is you, speaking to our neighbors, getting our kids involved. Put the guns down.”

 

The councilwoman later lead some chants of “Release the Grip” and “I B.R.A.G., We B.R.A.G.”

BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V6 A cure violence interrupter addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

Jessica Carabaya of B.R.A.G. spoke about the various resources available at her office, located on the second floor of 1995 Jerome Avenue. She said this included help with finding work and resume building. “Please come by,” she said. “We also have a music studio, if you’re interested in music, if you’re interested in being an artist and music production.”

 

She continued, “We also have a hospital response team. If you’re ever in St. Barnabas and you need support from B.R.A.G., please ask for us. We’re located in the emergency room at St. Barnabas. We also have a mentoring program that takes place every Wednesday. We provide therapeutic services.[…] We have so many resources and we just want you guys to understand that we’re here to support.”

BRONX RISES AGAINST Gun Violence holds a rally at St. James Park on Friday, March 6, 2026. V7 A cure violence interrupter addresses those gathered. Video by Síle Moloney

Primo, a hospital responder at St. Barnabas later led the crowd in a chant of “Guns Down, Life up.” He added, “We’re located at 4422 Third Avenue. We’re in the hospital and we see the victims of all of the violence and it’s sad because we see the families. We see everyone hurt and it’s sad because this is a beautiful community and we need change. We need to unite. In the hospital, we try to give services. We try to prevent retaliation. We’re there every day. God forbid, if you end up in the hospital, you could reach out to us and we offer all type of services, anything that you’re interested in, we’re here for you.”

 

Primo thanked everyone who showed up and encouraged people to try to extend the duration of non-shootings in the area. “Let’s show the youngies there’s got to be a better way,” he said. “We can’t just be.. the first thing is running to a gun.”

Another young speaker with the cure violence group, Guns Down, Life Up, talked about how he, himself, used to be a participant in gun violence but now works for B.R.A.G. “I’m going to keep this brief. I’m not much of a speaker,” he said. “This program has definitely helped me. We got resources, we got programs. We got boxing, basketball, art programs, we got fashion. I started my own clothing line. This program inspired me to do my own fashion line so that’s what I’m up to right now.”

 

He continued, “As a community, we got to do better. We can’t normalize this. People are getting shot. Innocents affected and more and more victims affecting the family members, affecting everybody around it. Look at everybody who’s here. We’re all here to help. It’s affecting all of us. We all feel some sort of sympathy for the situation. It affects everybody and we have to do better.” He then led a series of chants including, “Each One” to which the crowd responded, “Teach one.”

 

Other cure violence groups had traveled from Brooklyn for the event in solidarity with their Bronx counterparts. “Thanks for inviting us,” one member of the group later said.

Brittany Davis of the B.R.A.G. North section said the group had gone 416 days with no shootings. “It’s not enough,” she said. “We got to do better to protect our communities, especially with a park being behind us and a school being directly across from us.” Davis later led a chant of “One Shot,” to which her colleagues responded, “Too many.”

 

Norwood News later spoke to Diondre of Elite Learners Inc., based in Brooklyn, after the event and asked him, in his experience and opinion, if it was intimidation / threats which were driving young people to join gangs, given the prevalence on social media of young people being filmed and forced to perform violent acts, even when it was clear they were uncomfortable doing so.

“In my opinion, what really drives somebody to pick up a gun is like, you know, it’s usually retaliation, retaliation for something or they just feel the need because they’re almost insecure about it,” Diondre said. “They might be calling them pussy about it. It could be really broader too. It could be multiple reasons.”

 

Norwood News talked more with Diondre about social media and asked if even the young people recording the videos and pressuring other youngsters to carry out acts of violence were, themselves, being pressured to prove something to someone else.

“I one hundred percent agree,” he said. “It is absolutely one of the the bigger reasons why young people in general are actually going… well ’cause they got to prove themselves.”

 

We asked if the proof was needed in order to join or to remain in a gang. “Not necessarily to prove themselves with a gang, just with their peers,” Diondre said.

Asked if there was anything more the City could do in his opinion to help the situation, he said, “This, right here, is a big help. If we can get to them before they actually do it [shoot someone] because we talk to a lot of kids. We actually have a lot of kids not retaliating so it’s definitely working, but it’s a work in progress.”

 

As reported, a separate anti-gun violence rally was held later on Tuesday, March 10, in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx and was attended by the parents of a number of victims of gun violence, along with B.R.A.G. and other local community activists.

On Monday, March 2, the NYPD announced that in the first two months of 2026, the city experienced the fewest citywide homicides, shootings, and shooting victims in recorded history, reporting 32 killings and beating the previous low of 38, set in 2018.

 

However, year-to-date boroughwide murders in The Bronx are up 26.7%, the year-to-date boroughwide shooting victim count is up 35.7%, and year-to-date shootings are also up 29.7%.

 

See attached major crime statistics for the 46th, 50th and 52nd Precincts for more granular crime details.

 

Sanchez concluded her remarks, saying, “Put the guns down and let’s lift one another up and stop this violence so we can get ahead as a community.”