Photos from March 21 by Stacie Joy
Manhattan D.A. Bragg yesterday
announced the indictment of a suspect for two shootings in Tompkins Square Park last month.
According to the D.A.'s office, the accused, 38-year-old Waldemar Alverio, faces multiple charges, including three counts of An Attempt to Commit the Crime of Murder in the Second Degree and two counts of Assault in the First Degree.
On March 16 at 12:45 p.m., two men allegedly chased, punched and kicked Alverio. As they ran off, Alverio unzipped his bag and pulled out a gun, firing at them five times, per court documents.
Alverio struck one of the two men in the buttocks, fracturing his pelvis and lodging a bullet in his hip. Alverio also shot a bystander, a 53-year-old tourist, fracturing her right hip, which had to be surgically replaced. Per the D.A.'s office, "she will require months of physical therapy as she learns how to walk again."
Five days later,
on March 21, Alverio allegedly returned to Tompkins Square Park just after noon, approached a group in the park, and shot at them five times.
While Alverio did not strike anyone on that day, one bullet smashed through a window into a bedroom in an apartment building across Seventh Street, and another bullet smashed through a window and lodged in a stairwell in a second building on Seventh Street.
"Our parks should be a place where New Yorkers and tourists can relax without fearing for their safety," Bragg said in a statement. "Combatting gun violence remains my top priority, and my Office will hold those who commit these serious acts of violence accountable. I hope the victims continue to heal from their wounds."
On March 26, officers from the 7th Precinct, who recognized Alverio from a wanted flyer, arrested him on Delancey Street.
The charges against Alverio:
• An Attempt to Commit the Crime of Murder in the Second Degree, a class B felony, three counts
• Assault in the First Degree, a class B felony, two counts
• An Attempt to Commit the Crime of Assault in the First Degree, a class C felony, one count
• Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a class C felony, two counts
Yesterday, in the New York Supreme Criminal Court, Judge Laura A. Ward ordered Alverio, who pleaded not guilty, held without bail. According to
public records, his next court date is June 24.
