Photo (from July 12) by Stacie Joy
Reporting by Stacie Joy
NYPD sources shared more details on the arrests of two suspects in the July 12 fatal double shooting in Tompkins Square Park.
According to media accounts and police sources, the NYPD arrested two men last week — Angel Sardina, 63, and Rafael Macias, also 63.
The men, who each have an extensive criminal record, "were both staying in a Pike Street shelter-type situation." Officers from the Gun Violence Suppression Unit made the arrests, and the two were processed at the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street.
Sardina allegedly fired the shots that killed 74-year-old Fermin Frito, who was said to be selling drugs at the chess tables inside the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park. A second man, 44-year-old Edwin Rivera, was also shot in the ambush just before 10 a.m. It's not immediately clear what role Macias played in the shooting.
Public records show that the charges against Sardina include murder in the second degree. He is being held without bail at the Eric M. Taylor Center in East Elmhurst.
Police previously said this was a turf war over drug sales. "This is a targeted attack against a perceived drug rival," an NYPD source told us last month.
The chess tables remain closed behind barricades, and officers from the 9th and 13th Precincts have been on patrol in and around the Park—both on foot and in vehicles. Members of the NYPD's Mounted Unit have also been spotted patrolling the area.
In the wake of this incident, the 9th Precinct is emphasizing its commitment to community safety and is encouraging residents to participate in its upcoming National Night Out Against Crime on Tuesday, Aug. 6, from 4 to 7 p.m., an event designed to strengthen police-community partnerships.
Previously on EV Grieve:
17 comments:
It's not right for them to close a whole area of the park (really the only one with tables) for so long because an incident happened there. Closing it off doesn't fix the problems.
It's been nice having cops walk around the park instead of staying in their cars. I hope they continue to do so.
They actually should start by removing those tables. There hasn’t been a chess game played there in the 32 years they were placed there. It’s unfortunate but I can’t remember anytime when that area wasn’t a magnet for drug dealers and people with serious mental health issues or people with violent tendencies.
@5:20 A.M.: it's completely "....right...."; that area is where *almost all* of the shit that happens starts right there.
@9:58 A.M.: that's ludicrous...I played at least 100 games of chess at those tables. There were days when almost every table was occupied by chess players, for hours and almost every day for years at least a few people were playing. Which has nothing to do with danger...which is why I quit going. I mean, after being randomly picked out for harassment and threats by LES Jewels and some rando with two pit bulls I decided 'yeah, let's not go there any more'. Oh, and stop stigmatizing people with '...mental health issues...'; it makes you sound ignorant. But then, "...been a chess game played there in the 32 years..."?
We need to get on making that corner of the park for the people. Get rid of the chess tables and plant some grass and trees. Let a local small business open a coffee shack there. Do something to make it a spot for everyone to hang out. We need to reclaim that corner of the park.
It took them two weeks to find guys staying at a nearby shelter? Geez.
What pieces of shit you must be, though, to be (allegedly) throwing shots to solve your business problems in a public place with kids playing nearby in your 60s! That's behavior you expect from categorically moronic 19-year-olds.
Finally, people with mental health issues are allowed to exist in public. As others have pointed out, it's the relative location of the tables that are the problem--WSP has the same "corner issue" with dealers but it's in a corner AWAY from their famous chess tables.
So the dead drug dealer was 74 and the guys who capped him were 63. What were they selling? Counterfeit blue pills from China?
People with mental health problems certainly have a right to exist in public, but having mental health problems, being an addict, or homeless, does not make you 007, fully above the law. The reality is that the people who traffic the drug corner are junkies and dealers who couldn’t care less about anyone else who uses the park. If the local precinct started arresting them, regardless of whether they get substantial jail time, it would be enough of an annoyance and inconvenience that many would move on.
Remove those damn chess tables! Too much criminal behavior run amok in Tompkins. I've also seen more of a police presence in this area as it should be. Hopefully there are no more fatalities.
“Let a local small business open a coffee shack there”
Why not convert all of Tompkins Square Park into privately owned businesses?
Why are you lumping together criminals and sick people?
There are records for a Sardina and a Macias of about the right age indicating lives in and out of jail, Macias with the heavier stuff. Some people just aren't interested in living right. Assuming they're convicted, at their ages, they'll be lucky to make it five years upstate--it's really rough on the old folks up there.
Whatever happened to the woman who was taking care of the gardens in the park a few years ago? Since she left the park has become a sad piece of real estate.
@2:08 - I agree. As someone who sat at each of the tables: they positively ooze evil. Like mushrooms of perfidious fuckery, I say.
I believe she retired. You’d see her there as early as sunrise. Now there’s a part-time gardener split among various parks. However I have seen the Friends of Tompkins Square Park volunteers hard at work. Especially at the corner of 7th & B there are areas that have developed very nicely over the past year plus, roped off from the perils of dogs. Folks should take a walk over there. And this summer I’ve seen a lot of volunteers out helping in other parts of the park. One morning in June I even saw kids from Children’s Workshop School repainting benches at 9th & A side.
Astor Place has that coffee truck. I like the idea of letting a local small business operate there, but it’s just one idea. I am not wed to it and don’t know how feasible it is. But as someone who has been part of the EV for more than 30 years, I think we need to do something. Do you have some ideas as to how we can get that corner back as usable space for the community? We should be talking about this.
Get rid of the chess tables. Times change, people in the neighborhood change, and the space could be used for a performance space, more farmers market space, or garden/plant space that would be useful to a larger demographic of people
I like the idea of the chess tables being removed and new trees being planted on that corner. It seems like the most doable option.
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