CRIME WAVE?

Fatal Shooting the Latest in Violence Plaguing Pelham P’kway Houses

(Detectives stand over the body of a young man shot dead after a dispute on Pelham Parkway.--Photo by Boris Kaykov)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 28- One man is dead and another was wounded after an early morning dispute led to gunfire in the Allerton section.

Police say the two victims were drinking and sitting on a bench outside of the Pelham Parkway Houses, at just after 1 a.m., on Sunday, August 26, when the pair got into an argument with a group of men.

One of the men pulled a gun and shot the two victims before the group fled the scene.

One of the men, later identified by police as Adrian Garcia, 25, was shot in the neck and was declared dead at the scene.

The second victim who remains unidentified, described as a 20-year old man, was shot in the leg and was transported to Jacobi Hospital. That victim was expected to recover. Police have made no arrests at this time.

Police are still actively hunting for the killer of longtime Pelham Parkway Houses resident Evelyn Shapiro, 88, who was beaten to death inside her apartment, her body was discovered back on June 16.

A $12,000 reward is still being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Shapiro's killer.

In May, 2009, Jimmy Butler, 22, and Jimmy Robinson, 20, were gunned down inside the complex, their killers also remain at large.

In response to Shapiro's brutal murder, Councilman Jimmy Vacca secured $4 million for the purchase and installation of security cameras at the Pelham Parkway and Throgs Neck Houses. Installation of those cameras are to begin in 2013.

One resident of the complex who declined to be identified, stated, "The young hoodlums think their bad with their little gangs," adding that the Bloods and the Crips have a stranglehold on the complex as they peddle their drugs.

The resident said of the new security system, "I don't understand why its taking so long."

As of August 19, the NYPD recorded six homicides during the first eight-months of 2012, compared with just two reported during the same time period last year.