Report: Man shot dead on 3rd Street and Avenue D last night

A man was shot and killed last night on Avenue D and Third Street around 11:15, according to media accounts and police sources.

CBS 2 reports that the victim is 39-year-old Bronx resident Brandon Atkinson. He was found with a gunshot wound to the head and pronounced dead at Bellevue. 

No other details are currently available. 

This was one of four shootings last night or early this morning in the southern half of Manhattan. 

Per NBC New York: 

The shootings will compound the problem already plaguing Manhattan this year, as the city confronts a massive spike in violent crime. Year-to-date through May 8, shooting incidents in the NYPD"s Patrol Borough Manhattan South are up 31% over last year. 

According to the NYPD's CompStat system, for the period from Jan. 1 to May 8, shooting incidents in Manhattan South are now at their highest since 1997.

On April 29 at 9 a.m., a 42-year-old man was shot and killed outside the Mariana Bracetti Plaza public housing development on Fourth Street at Avenue C. Police arrested a suspect in that shooting. 

Councilmember Carlina Rivera calls for an immediate end to the city's encampment sweeps

Photo from 9th Street on April 6 by Stacie Joy 

Local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera is demanding an immediate end to "the dehumanizing homeless encampment sweeps" in the East Village and throughout New York City. 

The demands came in a letter that Rivera sent to Mayor Adams this past Thursday...

 

It reads in part: 

For over a month, my office, other local elected officials, and community leaders have conveyed to your office through meetings, phone calls, and emails that these sweeps represent an egregious misappropriation of resources with very few housing placements as outcomes and further deepen the mistrust between government and the public. The acts themselves also appear to be among the most tragic misfires in community engagement to have transpired in recent years. Despite our best efforts in seeking your attention to this urgent matter, yesterday afternoon the NYPD Strategic Response Group, an entity designated for counterterrorism efforts, aggressively executed multiple arrests, a continuation of the harmful behavior we have witnessed since the first confrontation at the intersection of East 9th Street and Avenue B in Manhattan on April 6, 2022. 

I both respect and commend your administration's commitment to ending homelessness in New York City. With that goal in mind, I urge you to put an end to the ineffective sweeps and instead commit to supporting and investing in the policies and programs our communities deserve. We must build more housing across the five boroughs and we should start now; we must legalize nontraditional uses for housing, like basements and vacant commercial properties; and we must fully staff the agency teams tasked with securing affordable housing for the New Yorkers who qualify. 

A Community Board 3 committee drafted a resolution in support of the asks of the letter, which will go to the full Board for a vote on May 24. 

The NYPD and other city agencies have continued with their sweeps, with at least seven on the group of several unhoused residents staying in tents on Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C under the sidewalk bridge at the former P.S. 64. There was yet another one — unannounced — yesterday on Ninth Street that led to more arrests.

According to city stats cited by The New York Times, there have been more than 700 cleanups from March 18 to May 1 — many of them of the same site multiple times — and 39 people have accepted the placement into shelters.

"Our teams are working professionally and diligently every day to make sure that every New Yorker living on the street knows they have a better option while ensuring that everyone who lives in or visits our city can enjoy the clean public spaces we all deserve," Mayor Adams said in a statement last week.

And as the Times noted: "Several videos of officers roughly handling homeless people and their belongings have circulated widely on social media, complicating Mr. Adams's attempts to portray the dismantling of encampments as something being done for the good of the homeless people themselves."

Unhoused residents have said that the shelter system is not safe. Read our interviews with some of the Ninth Street residents here.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Report: 2 arrested in latest East Village encampment sweep

• Standoff on 9th Street

• In Tompkins Square Park, speaking out against the city's sweeps of unhoused encampments  

Report: 8 arrested in latest sweep of unhoused encampment on 9th Street

Photo from Sunday by Stacie Joy 

City agencies returned this morning to Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, where a group of unhoused residents has been living in tents under the sidewalk bridge at the former P.S. 64. 

The result: 8 arrests.

Here's more from The New York Times: 

The protest began as dozens of police officers, accompanied by a sanitation crew and a single homeless outreach worker, forced out the people living in the encampment for at least the seventh time in the last six weeks. 

[Tompkins Square Park] has become ground zero to the small but vocal movement protesting Mr. Adams's policies for addressing homelessness. "Housing is a human right, fight, fight, fight," the protesters chanted as police vans pulled up on neighboring streets around 9 a.m., and campers and supporters from a host of mutual aid and tenant activist groups taped off the tents with red packing tape. 

After a standoff, police arrested seven activists and one of the unhoused residents. 

All went willingly except Johnny Grima, 37, a homeless man who has emerged as the public face of the protests. He has been arrested three other times in the last month. 

As officers wrestled him out of his tent, then carried him toward a waiting police van, a protester shouted: "Shame on you. Is that how you treat houseless people?" 

According to city stats cited by the Times, there have been more than 700 cleanups from March 18 to May 1 — many of them of the same site multiple times — and 39 people have accepted the placement into shelters.

Unhoused residents have said that the shelter system is not safe. Read our interviews with some of the Ninth Street residents here.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Report: 2 arrested in latest East Village encampment sweep

• Standoff on 9th Street

• In Tompkins Square Park, speaking out against the city's sweeps of unhoused encampments  

At the March Against Gun Violence

Photos by Stacie Joy

Dozens of local residents, community groups, faith-based leaders and members of the NYPD turned out yesterday on the Lower East Side for the March Against Gun Violence.

Neighborhood police precincts (the 7th, 9th and PSA 4) and several local community groups organized the event. 

"We're here for them, the community — and the community is here as you can see," 7th Precinct Commanding Officer Luis Barcia told ABC 7. "They're also doing their part and working with us to stop the violence." 

The march started at Delancey and Columbia on the Lower East Side ... and ended at P.S. 34 on 12th St. between Avenue C and Avenue D. EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos...

According to ABC 7, there have been nearly 450 shootings this year — a 9% increase over the same period last year. 

"This is how serious this is to everyone, including the mayor," said NYPD Deputy Inspector Ralph Clement. 

Mayor Adams met with top NYPD leadership yesterday to discuss crime strategies in the wake of citywide violence, per NBC 4.

On Friday morning at 9, a 42-year-old man was shot dead on Fourth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. Police have a person of interest in custody. 

Police release surveillance video of suspect in connection to stabbing on Avenue A last Monday

The NYPD has released surveillance video of a suspect wanted in connection to a stabbing on Avenue A near 10th Street late last Monday afternoon. (First reported here.)

As ABC 7 reported this morning, the suspect got into an argument with a 35-year-old man. 

From ABC 7: "The victim was hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital in critical but stable condition. He had stab wounds to his left shoulder, right shoulder, chest, left arm, right forearm, left leg, left calf, and right leg."

 

🚨WANTED🚨for a Stabbing/Assault inside of (Tompkins Square Park (East 7 St & Ave A) #Manhattan @NYPD9pct on 4/18/22@ 5:50P.M The individual used an object to stab the victim multiple times.💰Reward up to $3500 Know who he is?📱Call 1-800-577-TIPS Calls are CONFIDENTIAL! pic.twitter.com/reJdjUQC1A

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) April 25, 2022

We originally heard that the NYPD had a suspect in custody last week. They actually had a suspect identified. And the incident took place near 10th Street, not Seventh Street, per the above tweet.

Report: 2 arrested in latest East Village encampment sweep

Photo by @Jeremoss 

For the third time in a week, various city agencies joined forces on a sweep of an unhoused encampment in the East Village. 

According to published reports, two people were arrested — an activist and a resident — during the crackdown on Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C  this morning around 8. 

A handful of people have been living under the sidewalk bridge of the vacant former P.S. 64. Witnesses said that more than 30 members of the NYPD were involved, including from the Strategic Response Group, for two people in the encampments.

i just watched 33 cops arrest 2 unhoused people in order to sweep an encampment of 5, the entire nyc housing policy is eviction at gunpoint pic.twitter.com/D7xhSlYcwh

— tracy jeanne rosenthal (@two__evils) April 20, 2022

This was the same location as an action on April 6 that resulted in a 7-hour standoff between a group of activists and unhoused residents and reps from several city agencies. 

The residents here in a zone dubbed "Anarchy Row" relocated to Avenue B and then 10th Street along Tompkins Square Park. Twice in the past week, the city attempted to move the residents into shelters — including during the citywide manhunt for alleged subway shooter Frank James, who turned out to be wandering around a few blocks away.

Per Gothamist: 

The East Village sweep was part of Mayor Eric Adams' ongoing efforts to clear the city of homeless encampments, which he has repeatedly argued is necessary for the dignity of homeless people. The sweeps, while not a new phenomenon under Adams, have drawn a drumbeat of criticism from homeless advocates, the City Council's Progressive caucus, the New York Times editorial board, and a coalition of faith leaders. 

On April 9, more than a dozen community groups and mutual-aid networks rallied in Tompkins Square Park to speak out against the Mayor's aggressive sweeps of unhoused encampments across the city.

Unhoused residents have said that the shelter system is not safe. Read our interviews with some of the Ninth Street residents here.

Updated:

Johnny Grima, the unhoused resident who was arrested this morning, was released from the 7th Precinct early this evening, as EVG contributor Stacie Joy reports. He sustained some injuries during the arrest (top photo).

Report: 5 people are splitting the $50,000 Crime Stoppers reward for Frank James tip

Photos Wednesday by Stacie Joy

The NYPD yesterday announced that five people will share the $50,000 Crime Stoppers reward for submitting tips leading to the arrest of Frank James, the alleged Sunset Park subway shooter. 

Per Gothamist: 

The names of the individuals, who will receive $10,000 each, were not released by the NYPD.

The amount – cobbled together by the New York City Police Foundation, Transportation Workers Union Local 100, and MTA – is among the larger rewards doled out by Crime Stoppers. The tip line allows anyone to provide leads anonymously and without having to testify in court, according to its website. 

As the Associated Press reported, James tipped off police about his whereabouts on Wednesday. 

Media accounts have speculated that at least two of the recipients will be Zack Tahhan, the security camera installer (below), and Frank Puebla, the manager at Saifee Hardware & Garden on First Avenue (watch interviews with both men here ... read this interview with Puebla at NY1) ... the two were outside the hardware store on Wednesday afternoon when James walked by.

James allegedly shot 10 people on a subway train in Sunset Park on Tuesday morning. In total, 29 people were wounded in the aftermath on the train and platform. 

Per NPR, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said James was charged with one count of violating a law prohibiting terrorist and other violent attacks against mass transit systems. James could face up to life in prison if convicted. 

His attorney, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, told reporters after Thursday's hearing: "The initial press and police reports in cases like this one are often inaccurate. Mr. James is entitled to a fair trial, and we will ensure that he will receive one." 

Meanwhile, multiple media reports have retraced James' path following the shootings. He was said to be on the Lower East Side Wednesday morning when a high school student tipped off police to his presence. There were also reports that he ate at Katz's on Wednesday, though a manager told ABC News that was not true. 

Following his arrest early Wednesday afternoon on the NE corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place, the media descended on the area...

James is currently being held without bail.

Report: Alleged subway shooter held without bail after first court appearance

Photo at the 9th Precinct on 5th Street yesterday by Katie Godowski 

Frank James, accused of opening fire on a crowded subway train in Sunset Park on Tuesday, made his initial appearance in a federal courtroom this afternoon. A U.S. federal judge ordered the alleged gunman to remain in custody. 

Per CNN: 

In court, Assistant US Attorney Sara Winik described the attack as "premeditated and carefully planned" as prosecutors requested James remain behind bars. 

Defense attorneys told the federal judge they consented to him remaining in custody for now but may press again for bail later. The lawyers further asked for a psychiatric evaluation to determine James' medical needs. 

His attorney, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, had this to say: 

"We are all still learning about what happened on that train. What we do know is this: Yesterday, Mr. James saw his photograph on the news. He called Crime Stoppers to help. He told them where he was. Initial press and police reports in cases like this one are often inaccurate. Mr. James is entitled to a fair trial, and we will ensure that he receives one." 

James was arrested on the NE corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place yesterday afternoon. According to media accounts, James called the NYPD tip line and told authorities where they could find him. 

Two workers outside Saifee Hardware & Garden are also credited with alerting police after spotting James walking by the store on the SE corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street.

Wednesday's parting shot

Sunset Park subway shooting subject Frank R. James being transported from the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street this evening several hours after his arrest on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place... 

Thanks to Carol from East 5th Street for the photo.

Videos: Witnesses describe spotting alleged subway shooter Frank James before his arrest in the East Village

Top photo from an impromptu press conference on 1st Avenue by Derek Berg

Two men working outside Saifee Hardware & Garden on the SE corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street are being praised for spotting alleged subway shooter Frank R. James minutes before his arrest this afternoon.

As previously reported, James was the sole suspect in the mass shooting on a crowded subway train and platform yesterday morning in Sunset Park. 

At least 30 victims were treated at four local hospitals following the attack, and all but seven had been released as of this afternoon, per Gothamist. 

James, wearing a blue t-shirt and brown pants, was reportedly inside the McDonald's on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. According to the Associated Press and other outlets, James called in a tip himself, telling police where he was. 

He was already gone when the police got to the scene. However, Zack Tahhan, who was working for MACA security integrators installing cameras outside Saifee Hardware & Garden, and the shop's manager, Frank Puebla, spotted the alleged shooter walking by on First Avenue.

Puebla said he flagged down an NYPD cruiser from the 9th Precinct that had just stopped at the light on the SE corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street. James was then arrested on the NE corner of St. Mark's Place and First Avenue without incident.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy was on the scene and filmed this clip of Tahhan recounting what happened this afternoon...

... and here's Puebla telling his story...  

According to NBC 4, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York is considering filing federal criminal charges in the subway attack. The station reported that one potential federal charge being considered is using a weapon/arson on mass transit/train. 

Meanwhile, Saifee is showing its appreciation for the longtime manager...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Saifee Hardware & Garden (@saifeehardware)

Updating: Suspect in Sunset Park subway shooting arrested in the East Village

Photo/video by an EVG reader

This just in from St. Mark's Place and First Avenue (the NE corner) ... the NYPD has arrested Frank R. James, 62, who was named a "person of interest" after the mass shooting on the subway in Sunset Park yesterday morning. 

Here's a short clip after the NYPD cuffed James...

   

Elsewhere...

#BREAKING: Suspect is in custody according to five senior law enforcement officials. He was arrested in the East Village this afternoon. https://t.co/Dh9NFZ3PMh

— myles miller (@MylesMill) April 13, 2022

Just witnessed the subway shooter Frank James being arrested in the middle of the East Village…crazy…. pic.twitter.com/g5CJsUpUSF

— lex (@Ayy_Korobow) April 13, 2022

Per published reports, the shooting left 10 people with gunshot wounds and an additional 13 injured from panic attacks or smoke inhalation during the rush to escape. 

Updated 5 p.m. 

According to the Associated Press, James is awaiting arraignment on "a charge that pertains to terrorist or other violent attacks against mass transit systems and carries a sentence of up to life in prison." 

James was reportedly in the McDonald's on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street where several witnesses, including Zack Tahhan, 21, who was working for MACA security integrators outside Saifee Hardware, and the shop's manager, Frank Puebla, spotted the alleged shooter. 

Puebla said he flagged down an NYPD cruiser that just stopped at the light on the SE corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street. (We an interview with Tahhan and Puebla here.) 

CNN is reporting that James called the tipline on himself.

Back to the AP story: 

James was gone when officers arrived, but they soon spotted him on a busy corner nearby. 

Four police cars zoomed around a corner, officers leaped out and, soon, a compliant James was in handcuffs as a crowd of people looked on, witness Aleksei Korobow said.

Officers from the 9th Precinct on Fifth Street made the arrest.

In Tompkins Square Park, speaking out against the city's sweeps of unhoused encampments

Photos by Stacie Joy

More than a dozen community groups and mutual-aid networks joined forces for a rally in Tompkins Square Park yesterday to speak out against Mayor Adams' aggressive sweeps of unhoused encampments across the city, including one Wednesday on Ninth Street in the East Village. 

Speakers at the rally called for an end to the encampment sweeps ... while providing safe housing for New Yorkers living on the streets.

The rally, which drew 100-plus supporters, took place at the chess tables in the Park's SW corner. Before the event, several people removed the barricades from this space that the NYPD placed here late last summer after clearing out an encampment.
 

The speakers included Sinthia, one of the unhoused residents who was living on Ninth Street...

 

The rally came two days after the 7-hour standoff on Ninth Street outside the former P.S. 64 between a group of activists and unhoused residents and reps from several city agencies. 

The NYPD eventually arrested seven people while a sanitation crew tossed some of the residents' belongings. 

Since then, people have questioned the use of dozens of officers from the NYPD, including members of the Strategic Response Group and the Technical Assistance Response Unit, over four tents. 

As CBS 2 reported: 

"It was awful, it was stupid, and it was violent," said Helen Strom, director of homeless advocacy for Safety Net Project. 

Strom also said it was dehumanizing to watch homeless people and advocate in a seven-hour standoff with police and a Sanitation crew looking to clear up their encampment on an East Ninth Street sidewalk.  

"What the mayor should be doing is he should be sending out housing specialists to get people into apartments, instead of spending hundreds of thousands of tax payer money on police," she said. Strom said it was a total waste of resources, since the unhoused individuals refused to go to a shelter, fearing for their safety. 

As Politico noted: 

The new mayor will face an uphill battle in actually compelling people to leave the streets and go into the city’s shelter system, which is considered unsafe by many who have taken refuge under bridges, on sidewalks and in the subways. Elected officials and advocates for homeless people warn the city lacks capacity to offer people other options, and say the push is an unwelcome return to failed policies of the past. 

During an interview yesterday on WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show," Adams defended the sweeps," saying "he was working to preserve the 'dignity' of homeless New Yorkers," as Gothamist reported. 

"When I looked at some of those encampment sites...I saw people living in human waste," the mayor said. "Drug paraphernalia, no showers, no clean clothing. Living like that — that is not dignified." 

During a press conference with clergy members on Thursday, Adams said that the Four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, would have done the same thing. 

Yesterday's rally included a march to the former P.S. 64 ... and eventually to Washington Square Park...

... and then back to Ninth Street between B and C...

Meanwhile, a few of the residents who were the subject of Wednesday's sweep moved nearby along Avenue B...

The NYPD photographed the tents this morning... with another sweep likely in the days ahead...

NYPD seeks suspect accused of endangering the welfare of a minor

Updated: Police made an arrest in this case.

Police are searching for a suspect wanted in connection with endangering the welfare of a minor. 

The incident happened on March 16 just before 8 a.m. near Fifth Street and Avenue C. According to NYPD officials, the suspect approached a 12-year-old girl and asked her to accompany him. The man fled after a good Samaritan intervened.

WANTED for AN Endangering the Welfare of a Child in the v/o of E 5th Stand AveC . #Man @NYPD9pct on 3/16/22 @ 7: 49 AM Suspect approached the 12 y/o female victim asked her to accompany him, a good Samaritan intervened and the individual fled Reward up to Call 1-800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/pEPeKnLJQ2

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) April 9, 2022

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

Standoff on 9th Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

Today was a long, tense day on Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. The NYPD arrested seven people following a seven-hour standoff between a group of activists and unhoused residents and reps from several city agencies.

By late afternoon, the NYPD — who called in reinforcements from the Strategic Response Group and the Technical Assistance Response Unit — arrested six activists and one unhoused resident along a corridor dubbed "Anarchy Row."

As previously reported, about a half-dozen unhoused residents have been living in tents under the sidewalk bridge alongside the long-empty former P.S. 64 on Ninth Street. Previous attempts to move the residents into shelters had been unsuccessful.

After the arrests this afternoon, sanitation workers came in and swept the block ... tossing the tents and any belongings the residents didn't take with them. (It was not immediately known what happened to the other residents who were staying here.)

Law enforcement reps on the scene said that the architecture of the tents were illegal. So people could sleep on the street; they just couldn't have tents.

As Gothamist reported, today's sweep was "the latest flashpoint over Mayor Eric Adams' controversial push to clear the city of homeless encampments."

The actions, involving dozens of city employees over seven hours, drew criticism ...

Trying to police away homelessness didn't work during the Giuliani era and it won't work now. Mayor Adams is doubling down on failed approaches that hurt and dehumanize unhoused New Yorkers.

Our statement: pic.twitter.com/iNpPE8RoUP

— NYCLU (@NYCLU) April 6, 2022

And the city's response...

Spokesperson for @NYCMayor on removal of East Village encampment: “We have been engaged at this site for weeks, and our teams then and today were respectful and made repeated offers of shelter and wraparound services …” pic.twitter.com/SVBXDD45Ib

— Emily Ngo (@emilyngo) April 7, 2022

Here's a video showing part of what transpired today...

 

9th Precinct now issuing tickets to anyone parking in Neighborhood Loading Zones

Here's a warning for anyone who continues to park long-term in Neighborhood Loading Zones. 

The NYPD is now writing tickets for anyone who uses the Department of Transportation's recently added Neighborhood Loading Zones around the East Village for anything other than quick pick-ups and drop-offs.

From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, these spaces are reserved for activities such as: 

• Package deliveries by commercial vehicles 

• Taxi and car service pick-up and drop-off

• Active loading and unloading of personal vehicles 

However, given the number of people parking long-term in these spots during the week, the 9th Precinct and the Manhattan Traffic Enforcement Unit recently started enforcing violations to noncommercial plate vehicles in these spaces. 

"We'd rather educate and inform people than write summonses," Officer Eugene Adeleye at the 9th Precinct told EVG correspondent Stacie Joy. "We've been getting complaints from residents and we will be actively writing summons to violators." 

Previously, the NYPD would issue tickets in these spots, but it was mainly at the discretion of the officer/traffic agents. 

As for commercial vehicles that continue to double-park on the street and block a bike lane, Adeleye said: "The trucks loading and unloading are not supposed to interfere with bike lanes, and if they do that is a violation, and they may get tickets themselves." 

Adeleye also said that he was sympathetic to residents upset at the loss of parking spots in recent years, from outdoor dining structures to Citi Bike docking stations.

"We are only doing this based on complaints we've received with no intention of giving anyone a hard time — that's why we are trying to educate people as much as we can," he said. "I feel like if people are aware, then they might be able to avoid getting an unnecessary summons."