Photo by David Greene
A host of local, elected officials stood together with Mayor Eric Adams, local clergy members, violence interrupters, the NYPD, the 52nd Precinct Community Council and Bedford Park residents for a prayer vigil at the Bedford Park site where, as reported, now, one-year-old Baby Catherine was shot in the face while sitting in a parked car with the mother at Valentine Avenue and East 198th Street on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
The vigil, organized by president of the 52nd Precinct Community Council, Brenda Caldwell-Paris, and Rev. Jay Gooding of Jacobi Hospital’s “Stand Up to Violence” cure violence program, was held on Friday, Jan. 21, which fell on the infant’s first birthday, and took place, as briefly reported, outside the East 198th Street Grocery, the general location of the shooting.
Caldwell-Paris and Gooding were joined in prayer by Adams, Deputy Inspector Jeremy Scheublin, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), District 15 City Councilman Oswald Feliz, Assemblywoman Yudelka Tapia (A.D. 86), State Sen. Jamaal Bailey (S.D. 36), Rev. Angel Rosario, Rev. Roger Hambrick, and Minister Kwame Thompson, also of Jacobi Hospital’s “Stand Up to Violence” program.
🙏 TOMORROW 🙏
Come join us tomorrow for a Community Prayer Vigil for Catherine, the 11 month old victim of Wednesday night’s shooting. The location will be on East 198 St & Valentine Ave at 5:00pm. 🙏 🙏 #ForCatherine #StopTheViolence pic.twitter.com/y7rtsvZI43
— NYPD 52nd Precinct (@NYPD52Pct) January 21, 2022
Representatives of several, anti-violence disrupter groups were also in attendance, including Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence (BRAG), Stand Up to Violence (SUV), Save Our Streets (SOS), and Guns Down, Life Up. Rev. Gooding told the crowd, “Today we’ve come, and gathered our clergy along with our elected officials, along with our cure violence sites, that are with us today to let the community know, to let this county know, we don’t stand by but we stand up to the violence that’s plaguing our streets.”
The pastor continued, “Today we’ve called a prayer vigil. We’re praying right now for Baby Catherine, today, as she celebrates her first birthday.” Gooding later added that the child’s family had planned on attending the prayer vigil, but Catherine had been transferred to Cornell Hospital in Manhattan and on the evening in question, was to undergo emergency surgery. Catherine’s uncle was in attendance however, and received a supportive round of applause from those present.
Photo by David Greene
During her remarks, Caldwell Paris welcomed those who had come to join the vigil and introduced herself and what her role was. She then started off by saying, “I’m angry!” asking the crowd, “Are y’all angry?” to which they responded, “Yeah!” She asked again, “Are you angry?” Once again, the crowd responded, “Yeah!”
Caldwell-Paris continued, saying as president of the council, she felt that it was her obligation to make sure that the community was heard, and she spoke to the suffering of violence within not just the local Bedford Park community, but in everyone’s community across the Bronx. “Everyone was saying that we deserve better,” she said. “I’ve got Bronx Pride. Do you know about Bronx Pride? So, if you got Bronx Pride, then we going to do something about this. We’re going to do something about this. We’re better than this. We’re definitely better than this. If you’ve seen something, then say something.”
The council president ended the vigil by urging residents to attend the 52nd precinct community council meetings. [January’s meeting was cancelled as precinct officers took time out to pay their respects to Detective Jason Rivera and Detective Wilbert Mora who were shot on duty in Harlem on Friday, Jan. 21 and died.]
For her part, Clark said in part, “We are here in unity for this community in the Bronx. My job is public safety and I do that day in and day out. With all these problems going on, your DA is still going to be here.” She vowed that her office would continue the search for the gunman who shot Baby Catherine.
“That young man that shot that gun, he doesn’t care about human life,” the district attorney continued. “He doesn’t care about his own. He doesn’t care about the person he was shooting at, and he definitely doesn’t care about Baby Catherine.” She added that the situation was “unacceptable,” that the community did care about human life, and that it was better than that. Clark then thanked law enforcement and the clergy, and appealed to the community to obtain justice for the family of Baby Catherine, saying, “If you know who he [the gunman] is, turn him in.”
Photo by David Greene
Rev. Rosario later said, “God, we seek your presence tonight. We thank you. We have joined together here today from various races, from various religions, all for one reason, and that is to unite. We stand here united.” The gathering was held just 10 days after a separate vigil had been held for the 17 victims, including 8 children, killed in the Twin Parks fire tragedy in Fordham Heights on Sunday, Jan. 9, and just five days after their funeral and prayer service was held for the victims on Sunday, Jan. 16.
Speaking of Baby Catherine’s parents, Adams later said, “I remember the night of the shooting when they just walked into the room to speak with me and all they said was, ‘Can we just hold hands together in a circle and pray?'” Adams continued, “But we’re going to match that prayer with action, and to be here with the cure violence team, these young people who are here, are just amazing.”
He continued, “Historically, we have not had the coordination that I believe we should have [had] with the men and women in law enforcement, community, working with these men and women who are on the streets, that understand some of the issues that people are going through, and we want to coordinate with them.” As reported, one of the initiatives by one of the groups, B.R.A.G., is a boxing program for youth.
The vigil culminated a week for a borough and a community that was still reeling from, yet responding with continued relief efforts, to the Twin Parks fire tragedy, while simultaneously coping with a residential gas explosion and fire that killed one 77-year-old woman and injured seven more in Longwood, the shooting of a police officer in Belmont amid a gang-related shoot-out, and the fatal shooting of a 27-year-old man by police in Wakefield, following a dramatic police pursuit, among other highly charged events, all of which took place amid ever freezing temperatures.
Photo by David Greene
Meanwhile, as reported, Bedford Park was also the location of a recent savage stabbing, caught on video, of a 28-year-old woman by two unknown men in the early hours of Jan. 9, the same day as the Twin Parks fire, and during Stalking Awareness Month.
The NYPD had circulated fliers offering a reward of up to $3,500 for anyone with information regarding the shooting of Baby Catherine. That reward has since been increased to $10,000. Additional photos and video have been issued by police since the original police report was sent out to the media, as reported.
During her remarks at the vigil, Gibson later offered, “This violence is unacceptable. Our children don’t feel safe. Our people don’t feel safe, and we have a problem with that and so we are here tonight to not only stand in unison with one collective voice, standing against violence, but we are declaring war on those who choose to engage in violence in this borough.”
For his part, Espaillat told the crowd, “We must all work together to ensure that violence stops in the City of New York… today we’re here because an 11-month-old baby was shot in the face… we will continue until this neighborhood is safe. The neighbors of this neighborhood deserve that.”
Photo by David Greene
During his address, Rivera said, “Why do things like this continue to happen? We must, we must, we must make sure that this does not happen. Our borough president said it; let’s make sure we provide the resources so that young people do not see it as an option to come out shooting in these streets, without caring for families or communities.”
As reported, on Saturday, Jan. 22, the mayor was back in Bedford Park, once again, holding a round table at P.S. 46 about gun violence prevention, together with some of the same elected officials, including Espaillat, Gibson, Feliz, and Rivera along with various cure violence groups, and even some hospital emergency workers.
Looking at all angles of the issue, Rivera committed during the roundtable discussion to supporting a bill proposed by Brooklyn State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (S.D. 20) to hold gun holders accountable for their weapons. For her part, Gibson insisted that youth education about gun violence as early as at elementary level, was important as well as looking at the issues facing such youth not just in the schools, but when they are physically on their way to the schools, in order to protect them.
Meanwhile, the mayor committed to providing a government liaison from each City agency to work with the violence interrupters and support them on the ground, after one female cure violence group member explained that gang members sometimes hide guns behind garbage bags. She said the cure violence groups are, therefore, used to insisting that the City’s sanitation department collect trash promptly.
Photo courtesy of Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson via social media
Speaking on Saturday, Jan. 22, during a press conference after the roundtable, the mayor addressed this point, saying, “If my department of sanitation is not listening to the crisis management team on the ground, who say, ‘Hey, I need you to pick up this garbage,’ then they are actually in the way of what they’re doing on the ground.”
Back at the vigil and reacting to Baby Catherine’s shooting, Feliz, still reeling from the Twin Parks fire tragedy of Jan. 9, and dealing with the ongoing relief efforts for the victims and survivors of the fire, which was also in his district, said, “That an 11-month-old… already traumatized by the gun violence plaguing the Bronx….our communities deserve safety. No one should have to worry about whether they’ll make it back home when they’re going to the grocery store.” Baby Catherine’s father had reportedly been picking something up at a pharmacy when the shooting took place.
Feliz added, “As council member of this district, I have one message for the constituents that I represent: I feel your pain, and I am listening to you, and I am going to be working with all of my colleagues to build a system that does not allow anybody to threaten your safety.”
For Tapia, who represents the Bronx district located further south of the area in which the shooting of Baby Catherine took place, said, “I’m here because I feel for Baby Catherine as a parent, because having four sons, I know how difficult it is to raise a family here in the Bronx. We, as elected officials, are going to continue fighting to stop this violence. We’re going to do whatever is in our hands, walk with the community, so we can stop this violence.”
Flyer courtesy of the NYPD
During the roundtable on Saturday, the mayor also addressed concerns over funding by the various violence interrupter nonprofit organizations who highlighted that it was very difficult to carry out the type of work they did, which required them to spend money upfront, and get reimbursed later, often when they did not have the money available, upfront, to do so.
Espaillat spoke to that point, saying he understood their predicament and said the system of reimbursement was better suited to larger organizations which had those funds available to them and could wait for the reimbursement of funding, while nonprofits often could not. “You spend your money first, and then you have to wait a whole year,” he said, agreeing that smaller groups couldn’t work like that. He acknowledged, nonetheless, that their work on the ground in the community was vital to the residents they served. He said it reminded him of something his mother used to say. “The big expensive broom may sweep better, but it can’t get into the corner. We can get into the corner.”
The mayor committed to address the funding point, among others, when he released his blue print plan to end gun violence. “Why are there so many guns in our community?” Adams asked. “Why are we allowing the southern parts of this country to continue to ship guns into the inner cities? We have to answer that question,” he said. “I want to be loud and clear…I want to be on the front lines.” He then called on the federal government for help curb the flow of illegal guns to New York City. Norwood News recently reported on a Tennessee College student from the Bronx who was charged with gun trafficking across State lines into New York City, among other charges.
Photo courtesy of Fellowship Tabernacle COGIC
On Monday, Jan. 24, Adams later released his “Blueprint to End Gun Violence in New York City,” which broadly covers supporting the NYPD with their work, working with other levels of the State and federal government to curb the flow of guns into the City, supporting the crisis management system and violence interrupters working on the ground with offenders, expanding summer youth programs and other community and social programs like health care, including support for mental illness, having the courts remove violent offenders from the streets, and harnessing the power of the business and religious communities to help address the issue of gun violence.
On the same day, the NYPD released additional photos and video of the shooting, and appealed, once again, to members of the public to come forward with any information they had. They appealed again on Feb. 4.
NOW IN THE BRONX: @NYCMayor joins community leaders for a roundtable on gun violence. https://t.co/JlCBkQr0GU
— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) January 22, 2022
Back at the vigil, the final speaker was Bailey, Bronx Democratic Party chair, who said, “We’re grateful that Catherine is okay, but one centimeter to the left or to the right, it could have been a different story. I just continue to pray for her family, and I pray for us, in hope that we get to gather together in positivity, as opposed to the circumstance. But you can count on us to continue to work, and to work together, to find any solution that we can” at ending the gun violence issue.”
Join me as I participate in a Gun Violence Strategies Partnership meeting. https://t.co/MotZYkAkIo
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 3, 2022
The crowd finished up the evening by singing Happy Birthday to Baby Catherine.
“@NYCMayor Adams, you say that gun violence is a sea fed by many rivers. Well, I put forward a plan to dam up some of those streams. You can count on me to be a partner in that efforts.”
— @POTUS pic.twitter.com/SmQqWsjdGZ— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) February 3, 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden, during his visit to New York City, on Thursday, Feb. 3, confirmed his support in helping to stem the flow of guns, including ghost guns (guns assembled through the ordering of various individual parts) to New York across state lines, saying, “@NYC Mayor Adams you say that gun violence is a sea fed by many rivers. Well, I put forward a plan to dam up some of those streams. You can count on me to be a partner in that effort[s].”
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.
All calls are strictly confidential.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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