Police: Turf war over drug trade cause of last week's deadly shooting in Tompkins Square Park

Photo (from July 12) by Stacie Joy

Reporting by Stacie Joy 

The NYPD provided an update on last Friday's fatal double shooting in Tompkins Square Park. 

According to the police and media accounts, the victim, 74-year-old Fermin Frito, was selling drugs at the chess tables inside the 7th and A entrance when a suspect shot him and another man, 44-year-old Edwin Rivera, just before 10 a.m. 

"This is a targeted attack against a perceived drug rival," an NYPD source told us. The source went on to say that this is what happens if you engage in drug activity ... if you are buying or dealing and emphasized that the rest of the Park is safe, including the playgrounds. 

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters that Rivera was allegedly a "steerer" who directed potential clients to Frito. Kenny also said that two crews are fighting over the drug trade in Tompkins, as the Daily News noted. 

ABC 7 reported that Frito, who has 13 prior arrests, was stabbed in East Flatbush last month. Police are looking into any possible connection to the TSP shooting.

Our NYPD source said that the fact the police haven't released information about the alleged shooter means they have a pretty good idea who the suspect is and are trying to apprehend him without interference. 

The chess tables will be closed behind barricades, as they've been after previous bouts of violence. Our source said this is a short-term solution, and between this and 14th Street, the NYPD will need other city agencies to assist.

Large branch down in Tompkins Square Park

Unfortunately, last night's crazy-ass storm brought down a big Elm branch over the chess tables inside the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park. 

Goggla, who shared these photos, reports this SW corner of the Park is roped off. 

There's no word of any injuries. 

The chess tables have been barricaded off and under NYPD watch since the deadly double shooting here last Friday.

Tuesday's parting shot

Tompkins Square Park today... photo by Steven...

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

As of 6:30 p.m. today, the chess tables were open for business inside the Seventh Street and Avenue A entrance to Tompkins Square Park... two days after a fatal double shooting here that claimed the life of a man in his 70s.

An NYPD vehicle and two uniformed officers were in the center of the Park near where the bands were performing this afternoon, though no one was stationed at the problem area (aka "crime corner") that has been closed off several times in recent years.

In the aftermath of yesterday's deadly shooting in Tompkins Square Park

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

After being shot near the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park yesterday morning, one of the two victims, a 44-year-old male, entered the Avenue A Deli and Grill between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, seeking help before collapsing, according to witnesses and police sources. 

EMTs took the man to Bellevue. He was out of surgery early last evening, though we have not heard an official update on his condition. 

The deli was expected to reopen after crime scene investigators finished their work last night. (These photos are from 6 p.m.)

The shooting occurred around 9:45 a.m., just inside the 7th and A entrance to Tompkins Square Park. One of the victims, a man in his 70s, died from his wounds. Police sources have said the shooting was drug-related. 

The suspect, who was seen in the area up to an hour before the shooting, ran toward Seventh Street and Avenue B after the gunfire. Police sources said he may have discarded the white gloves and hoodie he was wearing before fleeing. 

The NYPD has not yet released an official description of the suspect. 

The chess tables, a hot spot for criminal activity in recent years, will remain "closed until further notice," per an X post early yesterday afternoon from local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera...

My office is in contact w/@NYPD9Pct regarding the shooting at Tompkins Square Park. NYPD is investigating and multiple departments and city agencies are on notice to address ongoing and related criminal activity in this area. The chess area will be closed until further notice.

— NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera (@CMCarlinaRivera) July 12, 2024

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.

Updated 9 a.m. 

The Seventh and A entrance to the Park was open early this morning, with access to the chess tables... crime scene tape remained up on the fences nearby...

Updated 3 p.m.: The barricades are now blocking the chess tables (photo below by Stacie Joy)

[Updating] Two men shot, 1 fatally, at the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park this morning, police say

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

This is a developing story, and we will update you when more information becomes available. Find the latest info, as of July 19, here.

Two men were shot this morning around 9:45 at the chess tables near the entrance to Tompkins Square Park at Seventh Street and Avenue A, the NYPD has confirmed.

The condition of the two victims is not known at the moment. Updated 1:14 p.m. Police confirmed that one of the victims, a man in his 70s, has died. (EMTs took both shooting victims to Bellevue.)

Police sources tell us that the shooting was drug-related and that it involved "problematic people at the Park." The suspect, wearing a hoodie and mask, was seen fleeing down Seventh Street toward Avenue B. There are early reports of a white vehicle involved in a getaway. 

Police are canvassing the area and scrutinizing surveillance footage.

Updated: Police said the suspect was seen in and around the Park about 50 minutes prior to the shooting wearing gloves, a mask, and a hoodie. 

An EVG reader shared this with us: 

Around 9:45 a.m. I heard around 5-8 shots ring out (LOUD shots), followed by everyone fleeing the Park. I was in the dog run with a whole bunch of fellow owners, trying to get our very scared pups out of there in a hurry. I'm a 15-year resident [and this was the] first time I've been forced to flee like that.

This past March, there were two daytime shootings (by the same suspect who was later arrested) in the Park. In the first shooting on March 16, a bullet struck an innocent bystander, a 53-year-old tourist, in her right hip, which had to be surgically replaced. 

The chess tables have long been a problem, an area where there have been multiple reports of drug use and sales, fencing stolen property, and various fist/knife fights. 

The NYPD and Parks Enforcement Patrol barricaded the area for most of the summer of 2022. In October 2022, a delivery man was slashed in the face here in the afternoon. 

As we wrote in August 2022: "Eventually, the barricades are removed ... and nothing ever really changes." 

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.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

City clears and closes the area around the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park (Sept. 1, 2021)

Monday's parting shot

From Tompkins Square Park today... expect to see more splooting squirrels in the days ahead as the heatwave continues. 

The city has a map of outdoor cooling options (including spray showers and drinking fountains) at Cool It! NYC and a Cool Options map.

A tree branch falls in the small dog run in Tompkins Square Park

We have many reader reports about a downed tree limb in the small dog run in Tompkins Square Park.

Derek Berg took the top photo around 7:30 a.m. 

Fortunately, despite the danger, there were no reports of injuries. (We don't know the exact time the limb came down.) 

Here's another angle via Goggla...

Juvenile red-tailed hawk getting the washing and drying down in Tompkins Square Park

An EVG reader spotted one of the young red-tailed hawks bathing in the water spray in the Avenue B playground in Tompkins Square Park...

... and later, this 2024 offspring of resident red-tailed hawks Amelia and Christo went into drying mode... standing and flapping its wings...

The hawks continue to be quite active this summer. As Goggla noted yesterday, one even made it to the cross of St. Brigid's.

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Cecil Scheib 

View of the sunset, Tompkins Square Park and the refurbished basketball courts...

Young red-tailed hawks continue to entertain in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Steven 

It may be entertaining to us, but we feel for parents Christo and Amelia as they deal with this martial arts phase of their 2024 offspring. 

Goggla has some great shots of the young hawks at play here.

At the Harold Hunter Skate Jam in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Hundreds of skateboarders descended up the TF in Tompkins Square Park for the latest Harold Hunter Skate Jam. 

Hunter, a charismatic local skateboarder born and raised at Campos Plaza on 13th Street, died in 2006 at age 31. 

The Harold Hunter Foundation (HHF) is an NYC nonprofit that provides support, opportunity and advocacy for skateboarders. 

The Jam also marked a collab drop for the DKG and the HHF Street Soldier Deck. 

Here are some scenes from Tompkins...

Check out an aerial view of the refurbished Tompkins Square Park basketball courts

So the refurbished Tompkins Square Park basketball courts returned to public use on Monday after a multi-week closure ... and with a dedication ceremony featuring the collaborators — Glossier, a beauty website, Project Blackboard, the WNBA, artist Na Chainkua Reindorf and the Parks Department. 

The Glossier Instagram account posted the two aerial shots here...

Here's more via Fast Company ... and Kyle Leahy, Glossier’s CEO: 

Glossier didn’t just sponsor the art; it also paid to refurbish the court so it is more functional. It mended the nets and repainted the backboards. It also sponsored a women's league that uses this court regularly to practice, paying for all of their equipment. "We wanted these young women to realize that they are worthy of this investment." 

The courts were last refurbished in the summer of 2015 with funding from YouTube.

A plaque dedicated to a former longtime Parks employee is missing from Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven

Last week, someone stole the brass plaque dedicated to former Tompkins Square Park supervisor Harry Greenberg from along the Ninth Street pedestrian walkway...

Greenberg worked in Tompkins from 1987 to 2010. A plaque via the Board of Howl! Arts Inc. arrived here early in the summer of 2012... (photo of Harry from 2012 by Stacie Joy)...

The working theory among Park sleuths is that someone stole the plaque for the materials instead of being a random act of vandalism/mischief.

Howl! Arts co-founder Riki Colon tells us that the organization plans to replace it ASAP.

Last summer, someone destroyed the Tompkins Square Park holiday tree plaque after it was stolen in 2020. 

Away from Tompkins, the plaque commemorating the Fillmore East at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street is also currently MIA.

High winds bring down a branch in Tompkins Square Park

Late this afternoon, around 5, a tree branch came crashing down inside the Ninth Street and Avenue A entrance to Tompkins Square Park. (Thanks to the reader for the above photo.) '

The branch fell about 10 feet from Derek Berg while walking with Wilfie. 

He took these photos ... including after the FDNY responded to the scene...

According to the Weather Channel, New York Harbor is under a gale warning until 8 p.m. Gusts could hit 40 mph.