The Bronx District Attorney’s Office is gearing up to host its fourth annual March to End Gun Violence this weekend.
According to the DA’s office, the march on Saturday in Longwood will be supplemented by a resource fair meant to provide Bronx residents with information regarding employment, education, re-entry from incarceration, health care and other resources, as well as “bridge the gap between victims of gun violence and our office.”
According to information provided by the NYPD, there have been at least 23 reported homicidal shootings this year in the Bronx.
One of them happened at the Police Athletic League (PAL) New South Bronx Center in Longwood, the site of Saturday’s March to End Gun Violence.
On Jan. 19, officers from the 41st Precinct responded to the PAL center after a person in a parked gray Jeep Renegade got out of the car and opened fire on a group of people leaving the facility. The shooting killed 15-year-old Josue Lopez-Ortega, and sent another 16-year-old boy — whose identity was withheld by the NYPD — to the hospital.
The NYPD confirmed officers still haven’t arrested a subject for the shooting, and that the investigation is ongoing.
Lopez-Ortega is just one of the kids who have been impacted by gun violence in the Bronx over the past year.
The death of University Prep Charter High School student Angellyh Yambo — who was shot and killed in April 2022 by a stray bullet just a few blocks away from her school in the South Bronx — rocked the borough. Her killing inspired marches, calls to action and in April Yambo’s family memorialized her with a street co-naming ceremony in Kingsbridge.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal use of a firearm and reckless endangerment for opening fire aboard a Bx5 bus in February. Another boy, 17, was shot but survived the attack. The NYPD didn’t identify the suspect or victim by name.
In April, one teenage boy, 17, was booked on murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a firearm charges for allegedly shooting two other 17-year-old boys inside the Burke Avenue and White Plains Road subway station in north Allerton. Kymani Woods, one of the 17-year-old victims, died from gunshot wounds at NYC Health and Hospitals/Jacobi. Police did not release the name of the suspect or the other teenage victim, who sustained a gunshot wound to the hip.
The most recent reported homicidal shooting in the Bronx happened on Memorial Day. Cops from the 42nd Precinct responded to a 911 call of a man shot inside of 1199 Boston Road in Morrisania. Clifford White, 42, who officers said had multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, died at NYC Health and Hospitals/Lincoln. No arrests had been made as of Wednesday for the holiday shooting.
Although the Bronx has suffered at the hands of firearms, shootings are down citywide and in the borough from this time last year.
According to NYPD data, from Jan. 1 through the end of May, shootings across New York City were down 24.3% compared to this time last year. The Bronx saw an even larger decrease in reported shooting incidents than the citywide average — down 40.6% from 155 in 2022 to 92 this year so far. The number of Bronx reported shooting victims from Jan. 1 through the end of May has also dropped 36.8% from where it was in 2022, from 182 to 115 people. The decrease in reported shooting victims in the Bronx is also more than the citywide drop of 23.7% from 2022 to this year.
Saturday’s resource fair will take place from noon to 4 p.m. at the PAL Center at 991 Longwood Ave. The fourth annual March to End Gun Violence will begin at 1 p.m. at the PAL Center, and loop around to conclude in the same location.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
