Bronx District Attorney, Darcel D. Clark, announced on Wednesday, Jan. 27, that a Bronx man who was active in an anti-gun violence group has been indicted for fatally shooting another man in August 2020.

 

Clark said the defendant, Mervin Joseph Moore, 37, of Sheridan Avenue in the South Bronx, was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon before Bronx Supreme Court Justice, Michael Gross, and remains in custody. He is due back in court on April 28, 2021.

 

According to the investigation, at around 1.30 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2020, Moore spotted the victim, Forest Byrd III, 34, at a party in a courtyard on Burke Avenue in the Laconia section of the Bronx. Moore allegedly went inside a building at the location, and when he returned to the gathering, he fired multiple shots at Byrd, striking him in the chest, back and arm.

 

Byrd was taken to Jacobi Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Moore, who had been active with Jacobi Medical Center’s Stand Up to Violence (SUV) group, fled the scene. He was subsequently arrested on Dec. 24, 2020. The motive for the shooting is unclear.

 

In reference to the case, Clark said Moore’s alleged shooting of Byrd contributed to the wave of gun violence that swept through the borough during the summer of 2020. In addition to being part of the Bronx anti-gun violence group, Clark said Moore had also been very active in the community, had attended anti-gun violence rallies and marches, and had visited NYPD precincts to talk about his anti-violence network.

 

“Now, in tragic irony, he stands charged with murder,” she said. “I consider these anti-gun violence groups in the Bronx vital stakeholders in the fight against the gun scourge, and their good work should not be tarnished by this alleged crime.”

 

Norwood News reported previously on different anti-gun violence marches which took place last summer involving various community groups, as well as on previous gun buyback events, organized by Clark in an effort to get guns off the street.

 

Moore’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Burim Namani, counsel in the homicide bureau, under the supervision of Christine Scaccia, chief of the homicide bureau, and under the overall supervision of both James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division. Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Anthony Velez of Bronx Homicide, and Enmanuel Gomez of the 49th precinct in the context of the investigation.

 

A person charged with a crime is innocent unless and until that person is found guilty in a court of law.