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New York City Ends Seven Day “Murder Lull”

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(courtesy spotcrime.com)

“The first killing occurred at 6 p.m. on Friday in the South Bronx,” nytimes.com reports. “Two friends were standing in front of 680 Tinton Avenue near the John Adams Houses when a gunman opened fire, the police said. Tyrek Singleton, 28, of the Bronx was shot in the torso and pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical Center. His 26-year-old friend, who was not immediately identified, was shot in the leg. He told investigators he did not know the gunman.” Yeah, that’s what he said . . . I wonder if anyone involved was a gang banger. I don’t wonder if gun control could have prevented this killing. Because it didn’t. On to the next . . .

Two and a half hours later, two men were shot in the chest and killed in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the police said. The men were identified as Tevin Beckles, 21, and Randolph Williams, 37, both of Brooklyn. The police said Mr. Williams had 52 arrests, most of them drug-related.

Wow! Fifty-two arrests. I wonder about the exact nature of those non-drug-related arrests. Meanwhile, I have a sneaking suspicion that this murder was also drug-related. And just because a gun was used doesn’t mean that it somehow “caused” this crime. Wait. Is this Joe Nocera’s The Gun Report? No. He’d never mention priors.

At 2:15 a.m. on Saturday, police officers found Pablo Pagan, 40, dead with a gunshot wound to the head close to his home in the Arthur H. Murphy Houses on Vyse Avenue in the Bronx.

About three miles away and two hours later, police officers discovered Marco Castillo, 24, with a gunshot wound to the chest. Mr. Castillo was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

The police said that Mr. Castillo was walking on Westchester Avenue when two men approached and one started a physical fight with him. When the man began to lose, the other man shot Mr. Castillo in the head and torso.

Who was it that said that nothing good happens at 2am in the morning? Every gun guru extant. As for who started the fight and who was winning and how that was progressing at the time of the murder, well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? Perhaps legally but not as far as Mr. Pagan’s survivors are concerned.

Not to belabor a point (much), I wonder if any of the men involved had a criminal record and why The New York Times mentioned Mr. Williams’ rap sheet but offered no info on priors for any of the people involved in this crime? I wonder if the murderer would have killed Mr. Castillo with a knife if he’d had one. Or, if he’d “won” the fight, if he would have beaten Mr. Castillo to death. Would his pal have helped?

On Sunday morning, about five miles away from where Mr. Castillo had been shot, the police said that a 38-year-old man was shot in the torso around 6:40 a.m. on Boston Road in the Bronx. The man was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Just five miles away, eh? Maybe there’s some kind of geographic thing going on here. You know: a pattern of gang activity in a particular area. That might have something to do with it. Of course, we could focus on a pattern of “easy access to guns” but I’m not sure what good that would do in terms of reducing the number of murders. Just sayin’ . . .

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “New York City Ends Seven Day “Murder Lull””

  1. was Shannon Watts there with her MILF-tastic self?? That would have been worth a flight to Texas. 🙂

    actually, a better tactic would be to have a bunch of people taking pictures of everyone inside the event, then follow them when they leave and take pictures of their cars and license plates. All very legal activities, but I suspect their passion for future rallies would wane considerably in favor of staying at home and being mad at the world.

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  2. Everyone in this video’s OODA loop is broken.

    Guys with guns? Meh.

    Robbing us? Meh.

    Exploding glass and gunfire? Stand still and do a little jig.

    As Dominic Toretto says in “Furious 6:” “This is Brazil!”

    Although I’ve learned this recently about Brazil: motorcycles are bad for your health.

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  3. My first comment vanished. Here goes. MDA held a rally at a bar? Maybe CPS needs to pay a visit to these moms homes. Anybody check the parking lot to see if they left any kids locked in the car while they were at this drunken safety rally?

    Reply
  4. He might be a real nice guy, but it’s too much of a coincidence for me to pass up mentioning how much Rep. John Tierney’s name sounds like Tyranny.

    Reply
  5. I’ve had several Rugers over the course of 30 year.and as of today I own none of their products.quality control as well as some other new designs have went to hell since the introduction of Prescott Arizona facility.and I know I’m not the only one that sees that.

    Reply

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