The NYPD has released a video and photo of two suspects and is appealing to the public for help identifying the two shooters who are sought for the drive-by, daylight, multiple shooting of four people, including two young children under the age of 7, on East 193rd Street and Morris Avenue, beside St. James Park, in Fordham Manor on Tuesday evening. All four were reported to be in stable condition on July 11.

 

During a press conference held at the crime scene on Tuesday evening, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said that the four gunshot victims included a 25-year-old male shot once in the back, a 23-year-old male shot multiple times through his body, a 6-year-old boy shot once in the leg and a 3-year-old boy, brother to the 6-year-old, shot once in the leg.

 

Chell said, “As a dad and as a parent in this City, I couldn’t imagine this happening to my kids – absolutely heart-wrenching and disturbing.” He added, “I’m glad to report though everyone is doing well and [are recovering] from their injuries.”

 

The department chief then vowed, “Let me tell you this… to those victims, New York City stands behind you.” He added, “However, once again, we have a recurring theme in the city: illegal bikes, illegal firearms and people who pull those firearms. Two people with no regard for society or life would pull up to a crowded park on East 193 Street, here in Kingsbridge [Fordham Manor bordering Kingsbridge Heights], and fire into that park, where hundreds of people are here congregating on a hot July day. This is totally unacceptable.”

Chell said the incident took place at around 5.50 p.m. “Our video shows us St. James Park…an illegal scooter pull up with two people on the scooter, wearing all black, wearing masks. The rear passenger gets off that scooter and, like I said, fires into the crowd, striking those four people and those two young boys.”

 

He said video evidence showed the two then fled on the scooter down East 193rd Street. “Right now, we don’t know who the intended target was nor do we have a motive,” he said.

 

Chell continued, “Like I stated earlier, our hearts go out to the family and these victims, but this City, this department will not relent from taking these illegal bikes and illegal firearms off the street and our detectives up here in The Bronx will do whatever they can, and they will, to solve this case. If anyone has any tips, please call our hotline 1-800-577-tips All calls will remain anonymous.”

In response to a question about a possible lead, Shell said, “It could possibly be a gang but it’s too early in the investigation. Our detectives will be working through the night and hopefully soon we’ll have a motive and the detective squad can take it from there.”

 

Asked about the relationship between the victims, Shell said, “Right now, we have the two young boys that are brothers and from what I’m being told, the two other males might have been cousins, all enjoying a beautiful day in a hot July.” In response to another inaudible question, he appeared to clarify that the two cousins were a separate family from the two young brothers.

In response to a question about identifying the shooters, Chell said there were plenty of eye-witnesses and reiterated that the gunmen were wearing all black and wearing masks. “So, this will come down to strong video canvas,” he said.

 

Asked about the direction of the shots fired, Chell said, “We don’t know who they were shooting at. There was hundreds of people in the park and the victims were outside the park.”

 

Local elected officials, Assemblyman George Alvarez (A.D. 78) and City Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14), were at the crime scene and gave their reaction to Norwood News on the shooting. Sanchez said she was thanking God that everybody was in a stable condition. “But, you know, I think the bottom line here is that the community must know that no-one accepts this as normal. This is not normal. This is not okay. You know, we are thankful for the 52nd Precinct who is here within moments and has launched a full investigation into what happened.”

 

THE NYPD HAS released this video and is appealing to the public for help identifying the two people on the scooter who are sought for questioning in connection with the shooting of four people, including two children under 7 years of age, on East 193rd Street and Morris Avenue in Fordham Manor on Tuesday afternoon, July 11, 2023. Video courtesy of the NYPD

 

She continued, “But beyond that, we have our violence interrupters, who immediately who know the folks who are in and around the neighborhood and are gathering information and are really trying to stop the violence and stem the violence.”

 

We mentioned how the annual peace barbecue hosted by cure violence group, B.R.A.G. (Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence) had just been held at the exact same location three days earlier. “Exactly! The peace barbecue just a few days ago,” Sanchez said. “And they’re out here, and they know folks and, you know, the fact of the matter is that it’s summer, tensions blow, bubble over, but that doesn’t mean that it’s okay. It doesn’t mean that it’s normal in any way.”

 

The councilwoman continued, “And so it’s important for me, and I’m so glad that my colleague, George Alvarez, the assemblymember, is out here. It’s important for us to be out here to make sure that we’re sending the message to the community. This is us. This is our community. These are our neighbors. These are probably some of our kids who are involved in this, and we have to stay the course you know? We have to keep fighting for our kids, fighting for our young people, fighting for our lives, and that’s that’s really what we intend to continue to do.”

 

For his part, Alvarez said, “This is no sense. I mean, what we’ve seen here, we experienced that in the whole borough. We’ve experienced this in the whole city right? I think that, as an elected official, we need to come together. We need to to… I’m not gonna say do more but we need to come together and find out the root cause of the issue and the solutions that we can provide to those people, and not just to the victims, but also the shooters.”

 

He added, “The shooters need to understand that there is another life out of drugs, there’s another life out of being a gang member, another life outside of being, you know, a violent person, and the family, the victims. I mean, my prayers are with them. On the state level, they have someone that is, you know, always available for them in case they need, and, you know, we just need to find a solution for this crisis, and I think it’s throughout the whole city.”

 

Click here to read our story on residents’ reaction to the shooting.

 

On Wednesday, July 12, police released a video and photo (attached above) of the shooters and is appealing to the public for help identifying them.

As reported, a 5-year-old girl was shot while sitting in a car with her father on June 30 in the Olinville section of The Bronx on the last day of Gun Violence Awareness Month. As of July 9, year-to-date shootings in The Bronx were down by 27.3 percent (173 v 238) compared to the same time last year and year-to-date shooting victims in The Bronx as of the same date were also down by 24.5 percent (210 v 278)).

 

In the 52nd Precinct, which covers Bedford Park, Fordham, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Bronx Park, and University Heights, year-to-date shootings were down by 55.6 percent (8 v 18) compared to the same time last year and year-to-date shooting victims were also down by 61.9 percent (8 v 21).

 

A spate of 16 reported Bronx shootings over the Fourth of July holiday weekend prompted elected officials, including Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, State Sen. Jamaal Bailey (S.D. 36), and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, along with various cure violence groups, members of the NYPD, and members of local precinct community councils, to hold a press conference at Lou Gehrig Plaza on July 6 in order to call for an end to the violence. The 52nd Precinct Community Council was represented by Jerry Landron.

 

Gibson said of the event, “Today, I joined with Bronx DA Darcel Clark, Assistant Chief Philip Rivera, local elected officials and cure violence organizations to condemn the gun violence we witnessed over the holiday weekend. Thank you to our Bronx DA, NYPD, and our cure violence organizations who are on the ground doing the work and preventing violence everyday.”

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.

 

*David Greene and Miriam Quiñones assisted with this story.