The NYPD is asking for the public’s help locating the person seen in the attached surveillance video and photo who is sought for questioning in connection to a non-fatal shooting that occurred in Bedford Park, located in the 52nd precinct.

On Wednesday, June 8, at around 2.20 p.m., a 22-year-old male victim was in a vehicle (as a passenger), located opposite 214 East Mosholu Parkway South, when he encountered the unidentified shooter. The gunman shot the victim in the back, and then fled on foot westbound along East 203rd Street, toward Valentine Avenue. 

“The victim was removed to Montefiore [Medical Center in Norwood] by private means,” police said. He was treated there, and an EMT later confirmed to Norwood News that he was later transported to a trauma hospital. “There were no other injuries reported as a result of the incident,” police added.  

The gunman is described as male, is between 20 and 30 years of age, has a medium build, black hair, facial hair, has a dark skin complexion, and was last seen wearing a black undershirt, black shorts and black sneakers.

A surveillance video and photo showing the alleged suspect are attached. Police said they were obtained following the incident.

P.S. 8 Isaac Varian is located at 3010 Briggs Avenue, across the street from where the shooting occurred. During the Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) Public Safety committee meeting held Thursday, June 9, local residents and one parent coordinator based at the school expressed their concerns about public safety in the area in the wake of the shooting.

Asked by public safety committee chair, Victor Saldaña, if any members of the community wanted to raise any specific public safety issues, a female resident responded saying, in part, “Yes, I would. In light of yesterday’s shooting that happened literally in front of my house, as a parent of P.S. 8, I just found it very disconcerting.” She said two of her family members, a child and a senior, had been walking into her house just five minutes before the shooting took place.

Referring to the recent mass shootings that have taken place across the country in recent weeks, and the uptick in gun violence nationally, locally and statewide, the resident added, “When it hits home, it hits home. I believe P.S. 8 should have a camera system installed in their school, which is obviously there for the protection of the school staff, and especially the children, and I just want to discuss that.”

Another resident and board member, Lowell Green, added, in part, “I have no objections to having cameras on site, and I think the parents and the school, PTA, should reach out to their local officials, call them up and say, ‘Listen, we’re concerned. We want a camera system.” Green then asked if the New York school system had a program or protocol on how they place cameras in schools, or if they had the funds to provide them.”

Saldaña committed to following up with the district manager for CB7, Ischia Bravo, the Board of Education and the 52nd precinct, whose representatives, exceptionally, were unable to attend the Thursday evening meeting. He said he would also ask if the Board of Education provided any additional support for when such crimes occurred in the vicinity of public schools.

In the context of the discussion, the parent coordinator for P.S. 8, who was also in attendance, said, “I was present yesterday when the incident did occur. Consequently, we did have a lockdown.” She added, “It was a major concern, and unfortunately, it is a major concern that we’ve had, and yes, we have looked into cameras. We also seek help in order to address this issue, and see how we can expedite obtaining cameras for the entire school, since this can impose a threat to our children.”

The school coordinator added that she did see that at around 6 o’clock on the day of the shooting, some police officers were stationed on Valentine Avenue and 203rd Street as a consequence of the incident. “In the past, they have had a police presence, 24 hours, within that little section, right there, due to the fact that this has been an ongoing issue in the past,” she said, and asked if such police presence could be reinstated.

Saldaña then asked if there had been any conversations held with the Board of Education about the camera/security issue. The parent coordinator replied, saying, “Unfortunately, I cannot speak upon what has transpired, and how many times it has been addressed, but I am aware that in regards to the cameras, they have, in the past, made attempts to obtain cameras for the school.”

Norwood News later shared that, as reported, in the context of recent traffic accidents in the local area, apparently due to speeding, we had contacted NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the NYPD to see what measures were being taken to address this, and that when DOT responded, they referenced recent legislation which had been passed and which had expanded the use of cameras in the City.

DOT replied at the time, saying, “Injuries have declined 14% on school speed zone corridors with cameras, [and] 31% percent of all on-street traffic fatalities in NYC took place in school speed zones that had cameras, but at times when they [cameras] were not legally permitted to operate: overnight and on weekends.”

Norwood News had asked for confirmation as to whether the expansion of the use of cameras referenced by DOT was in general, or if it was just an expansion of cameras in school vicinities. Recent remarks by both DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and Mayor Eric Adams appeared to refer to a “24/7 Speed Camera Agreement.” We were informed by DOT that the new law related specifically to the expansion of hours of operation of camera usage and that DOT was still operating the cameras within a radius of 750 schools zones across the City, employing roughly 2,000 cameras.

DOT added that it had reached an agreement to extend the speed camera program and expand the hours of camera operation from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., to 24 hours, seven days a week.

The resident who raised the topic later said, “I’m respectfully requesting a motion for support from you guys, from the committee, and for CB7 to send a letter to our council members in support of getting cameras in the school, and for the community board to help to expedite that. Thank you.”

Green suggested that it might be better to state that the community board was in favor of installing cameras in all schools in the local district, but especially at P.S. 8 due to the shooting near the school, and due to an increase in crime in the local area, generally.

Saldaña agreed. He added, “I’m going to put it to a vote [at committee level] so that we can also take this back to Community Board 7 for a letter of support,” He added, “Just fyi, we’ll also reach out to our council members to say that the community has requested cameras for all schools in the community.”

One of the residents then mentioned that some schools in the district do have cameras, while others don’t. A vote was then taken on the issue by the committee members, which passed, and Saldaña agreed to bring it back to the main board for a final vote.

Norwood News has also followed up on the point about cameras for P.S. 8 with the Department of Education, and will update this story upon receipt of any feedback we receive.

As reported, a 17-year-old student was arrested in Harlem on Tuesday, June 7, after he was found to be in possession of a gun inside Democratic Prep Endurance High School, located at 240 East 123rd Street in Harlem. The gun was discovered amid a scuffle among students inside the school. The NYPD confirmed that nobody was hurt and police officers later deemed the area safe.

The site is also the location of Harlem Prep Elementary School. The school confirmed that while security scanners are in place at the high school, they are not in the elementary school. This raised alarm bells for one Bronx parent whose children attend the school. She worried that older students could ask the younger ones to bring a gun onto the campus via the elementary school. Additional security measures have been implemented at the school since the incident took place, according to school officials.

As reported, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15), joined Montefiore president and CEO, Dr. Philip Ozuah, at P.S. 8 Isaac Varian school to confirm approval of $3.35 million in federal funding for Montefiore’s School Health Program (MSHP) on April 13. The program currently provides 42,000 students with access to doctors, dentists, and therapists at 33 locations and 99 schools that offer the program, across The Bronx and Westchester counties.

The school’s medical team handles 210 student physical health related visits per week, and an additional 60 visits for mental health counseling and support for students per week at its two school medical clinics.

New gun laws were passed on June 6 at the State legislature to help curb gun violence, as reported, while on June 8, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of similar gun reform legislation at a federal level. The latter still has to pass in the U.S. senate.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, June 9, as reported, Mayor Eric Adams announced that the mask mandate for 2 to 4-year-olds at daycare centers and schools would be lifted on Monday, June 13.

A more extensive story on the Bedford Park shooting, itself, will follow.

In the meantime, 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.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

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.