E.V. gunshots
Bullets flew around the East Village on Tues., Jan. 20, in two separate incidents. Luckily, only one man was left slightly injured.
In the first incident, a man, 39, told police officers that he had been sitting in his car at 6:15 p.m. while waiting at a red light at Avenue C and E. 12th St., when he saw several males running northbound chasing another male.
He said he then heard three loud bangs — gunshots. One bullet shattered his driver’s side-view mirror and he suffered an abrasion to his arm from a piece of the debris. His injury was non-life-threatening. There were no arrests.
Later that same day, at 10:40 p.m., shots were fired in the vicinity of E. Sixth St. and Avenue D. According to the Ninth Precinct, multiple witnesses phoned in reports, giving different locations for where the shots were fired.
However, the precinct said the shots seemed to have originated in the vicinity of 91 Avenue D, the Manhattan Express Deli. A police spokesperson said an employee at the bodega reported hearing two to three gunshots, and discovered a bullet hole in the shop’s window. A different police spokesperosn said there were two bullet holes found in the window.
As officers were arriving at the location, they spotted a vehicle that suddenly made a U-turn. An officer stopped the car and arrested two males and one female in connection with the incident.
Police did not provide more details about the arrested individuals. As for whether the two shooting incidents were related and what it was all about, as of Wednesday afternoon it was still under investigation.
“At this time it’s still being looked at,” a Ninth Precinct source said.
Baruch delivery bandit
Police are seeking the public’s help in locating and identifying an individual wanted in connection with an armed robbery pattern in the Baruch Houses, specifically in one building in the complex. In each case, the suspect robs deliverymen.
Police said that on Sun., Jan. 11, at around 7 p.m., the suspect approached a 16-year-old delivery boy inside an apartment building at 130 Columbia St., displayed a firearm, and removed $60 in cash and food from him.
On Thurs., Jan. 15, around 2:30 p.m., the suspect approached a 45-year-old deliveryman inside 130 Columbia St., displayed a gun and stole food.
Also on Thurs., Jan. 15, around 7:25 p.m., the suspect approached a man, 22, inside 130 Columbia St., showed a gun and stole $100 in cash from him.
The suspect is described as a male white Hispanic, about 5-foot-9, 200 pounds, with short hair, and wearing black sneakers and a black coat. In the first incident, the suspect had a beard. In the second one, he was clean-shaven.
Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call the Crime Stoppers hotline, at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.
Bridge jump
Police reported that shortly after 10 p.m. on Mon., Jan. 19, a person jumped off the Manhattan Bridge and landed in the street in the vicinity of South St. and Pike Slip. Emergency Service Unit police reported the individual was D.O.A. Police did not provide more information. A spokesperson for the city’s Chief Medical Examiner said the victim had been ID’d and that it was a suicide. But it wasn’t clear if police had notified family members yet, which police require before they release the name to the press.
Sex crimes pattern
Police have linked more incidents to a suspect wanted for an attempted rape in the East Village.
The suspect is wanted for an attempted rape of a woman, 22, after he followed her into her building’s stairwell, on E. Sixth St., around 6 a.m. on Dec. 28.
On Dec. 30, police also linked the suspect to a Dec. 16 incident where a man followed a woman, 19, as she walked into an elevator from the lobby of a building on F.D.R. Drive, then tried to grab her buttocks and breasts and forcibly kiss her. A struggle ensued, and he fled.
On Jan. 15, police included three more incidents in the pattern.
According to police, on Tues., Dec. 9 at 6:25 a.m., in the East Village’s Ninth Precinct, a 25-year-old woman was entering her apartment building when the suspect came in behind her and grabbed her buttocks. The victim screamed and the suspect fled.
On Wed., Dec. 17, at 4:25 a.m., within the confines of the 30 Precinct — which includes West Harlem, Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill — a 20-year-old woman was entering her apartment building when a man that police believe to be the same suspect entered behind her. He grabbed the victim and covered her mouth, and began to forcibly touch her back and buttocks. The suspect then fled the scene.
On Wed., Jan. 14, at 2:30 a.m., in the Fifth Precinct, which includes Chinatown and Little Italy, a woman, 31, was opening the door of her apartment building when, police say, the same suspect approached her from behind and grabbed her waist. The man then pulled the victim’s pants down, and when she yelled, he pushed her away and fled the scene.
The suspect is described as dark-complexioned black, about 5-feet-4 to 5-feet-11, age 20 to 25, and 150 to 180 pounds. He wears a black Yankees baseball hat.
Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call the Crime Stoppers hotline, at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.
Not-so-great escape
Two men got into a verbal dispute at about 12:10 a.m. on Tues., Jan. 13. One of them, Amara Toure, 20, then snatched the glasses off the face of the other man, 44, tossed them down and ground his shoes into them, police said. Toure then fled the scene.
Police tracked him to a residence at 24 Fifth Ave. the following evening. But despite the handcuffs, Toure broke free and ran away following arrest.
According to a news report, unknown to police, the apartment’s bathroom had two doors, and Toure snuck out the back one, then made his escape wearing only sweatpants. But police apprehended him later in an unlocked basement at 40 E. 11th St.
Toure was slapped with one charge of criminal mischief for smashing the man’s glasses, valued at $250, and a misdemeanor charge of escape.
— Lincoln Anderson and Zach Williams
