Video by David Greene

A crowd of about 100 turned out for an anti-gun violence rally in Belmont on July 14, near the site where 13-year-old Jaryan Elliot was shot and killed on Sunday, July 11, as reported. A man believed to be Jaryan’s godfather used a bullhorn to temporarily disrupt the press conference held by elected officials which preceded the rally.

 

The event was organized by recently elected, District 15 City Councilman Oswald Feliz, District 16 Councilwoman and Democratic nominee for Bronx borough president, Vanessa Gibson, and Assemblyman José Rivera (A.D. 78) and was held at the corner of East 187th Street and Prospect Avenue in Belmont. Newly elected District 14 City Councilwoman, Pierina Sanchez, was also in attendance.

 

The crowd was mostly made up of anti-gun violence groups like Bronx Connect, Release the Grip (RTG), Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) and Guns Down Life Up and Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence, who had recently participated in a number of other anti-gun violence rallies across the Bronx to mark Gun Violence Awareness Month in June, as gun violence.

 

The press conference location on East 187th Street took place diagonally across from Angels Café, where Jaryan reportedly sought help after being shot and later died. On nearby Prospect Avenue is the site of the former Bronx Deli, now called MNE Deli, where a candlelight vigil was once held for the 12 victims, including one baby, who died in a devastating 5-alarm fire in an apartment building at 732 Prospect Avenue on December 28, 2017, as reported,

Before the rally could begin, traffic was backed up to Boston Road caused by the additional vehicles that were carrying the organizers, members of the media, and police officers to the event. In addition, two double-parked RTG vehicles and one S.O.S. truck temporarily prevented a mini school bus from passing.

 

As news cameras set up in front of a private home outside 764 East 187th Street, Abdul Rahim Shabazz, who identified himself to WCBS News as an uncle of Jaryan, stepped between the television cameras and Gibson and Feliz with a sign that read, “Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys.” A source who was dealing with the family later said he was the child’s godfather.

 

The unexpected outburst caused a bizarre atmosphere and some stunned looks on the faces of elected officials and members of the media. Shabazz did not appear to be under the influence or impaired in any way. He said, “I don’t mean no disrespect to none of you all, but this is the truth. This is what time it is, a conspiracy that’s been going on for 500 years to destroy Black boys and the gang [expletive] is just a part of that.”

 

He continued, “I don’t know what you all were expecting today, but this ain’t it. This is not it.” Both Feliz and Gibson looked momentarily stunned before both seemed to intentionally look away from Shabazz.

 

As young members of ‘Guns Down Life Up’ proceeded to walked away from the disrupted press conference, Shabazz then told them, “I’m telling y’all. Get in your books. Do your studies and unify, organize, mobilize so we can deal with this situation, because this situation is out of control.”

The entire group then moved a few feet away to the front of the MTR Grocery at 760 E. 187th Street at the corner of Prospect Avenue, and Feliz attempted to restart the press conference. He began speaking of the neighborhood children, telling the crowd, “We love them. We care for them. We’re there for them and we’re going to do anything to make sure that they could realize their dream whether it’s becoming a lawyer, a doctor, a psychologist, and that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we don’t lose them to our streets.”

 

At that moment, Shabazz interrupted again, speaking over Feliz and saying, “A yo’ man. This is straight up [expletive]. This is straight up [expletive]. We don’t want to hear this, man. This is not why we’re here. This is [expletive]. They’re not going to do anything, and you know that this is politics [expletive]. They’re not going to do anything. We’ve been fighting racism forever. It ain’t going nowhere.”

 

After several minutes, and as order was restored, Rivera told the crowd, “I will be brief because we have to march so the people in the neighborhood can see us, instead of just hearing us on the 6 o’clock news. The entire City and State will hear the frustration and anger that you have heard here this afternoon.”

The assemblyman went on to say that he was grateful and happy that following the recent primary elections, the community had elected young leaders who he hoped would lead the community out of many of the problems it was facing.

 

At that point, once again, using the bullhorn, Shabazz countered Rivera’s comments, saying, “We’re not here for all this damn rhetoric. Nothing is being done, and you keep coming with the same storyline.” Rivera responded, telling the crowd, “We see this is the anger and frustration that we have. We have to move forward.” Both men then proceeded to speak over each other in separate efforts to connect with the crowd.

 

Shabazz and his bullhorn appeared to win the battle, as he fumed, “We’re not doing that! We have a very serious crisis on our hands and we need to get out and address it.” He continued, “The answer is that New York City takes millions, if not billions of dollars and they invest it in everything else but our children, but you want to stand here and talk this nonsense.” At that point, some in the crowd began heckling the officials in apparent support of Shabazz.

 

Rev. Wendy Calderón-Payne of Bronx Connect and Release the Grip then attempted to speak with Shabazz but when he responded using profanities, Payne walked away. At that point, both Feliz and Gibson signaled to someone in the crowd and a high-ranking police official went over and spoke to Shabazz.

As the press conference resumed once more, Payne then said, “If we don’t hope for something better, if we lose hope, that’s it. Then why is anybody living, right?” Revealing to the crowd that she had lost “more than one family member” to gun violence, she added, “And our children are hurting, because they’re afraid they’re the next one.”

 

Minister Tara Brown-Arnell from Bronx Connect and Release The Grip then began to explain the work of New York City’s crisis management system, saying, “They go into schools. We would get a call from a principal… We’ve taken groups of kids out of the City, when a beef was too crazy.”

 

Speaking for a second time, Gibson then offered, “We’re going to march because our young people are dying right in front of us. I am outraged and I’m upset and I’m [expletive] off when a 13-year-old is shot dead in broad daylight.” Calling the situation a “state of emergency,” Gibson said she didn’t want anyone to think that he or she couldn’t be the next gun violence victim.

The councilwoman went on to highlight several, local anti-gun violence initiatives available in the community, including the Beacon, Cornerstone, the Sonic Summer Youth programs, the latter a year-round youth employment program, as well as the recently expanded Saturday Night Lights program.

 

Gibson concluded, “There’s a war going on in our community. There is a war going on with our young people. They are at war with each other, and we need to break that cycle. I can’t tell you enough how important this is.” Shabazz never interrupted Payne or Gibson, and it should be noted that Gibson did agree with Shabazz’s philosophy on, in Gibson’s words, “systemic racism in society.”

 

In the end, the reduced crowd of about fifty anti-gun violence advocates, including Shabazz and other family members, marched down Prospect Avenue to East 182^nd Street. Neither Feliz, Gibson nor Rivera were observed along the march route, nor were they seen during the closing remarks made by the anti-gun violence advocates at the end of the rally.

Afterwards, Shabazz called the event, “a waste of time.” Asked why he marched, he replied, “To get my message out… I want to see results and they’re [local officials] not doing that.” Asked if he thought the rally would stop the violence, one man, who asked not to be identified, who casually knew Jaryan, and who was working behind the counter of Happy Deli on East 187th Street, replied, “To be honest with you. I don’t know.”

 

On the same day, presumed Democratic mayoral nominee, Eric Adams, met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to speak about New York City’s future and gun violence. In a separate interview the same day, Adams called out Mayor Bill de Blasio, telling Marcia Kramer of WCBS News, “The mayor should be up there and send a real signal to residents that we’re not going to allow the Bronx to go backwards.”

Video by David Greene

Later that night, as as reported, the NYPD released a photo of the Honda Accord, the suspected getaway vehicle that was used in Elliot’s killing.

 

Gun violence took a brief pause in the Bronx until the following morning, July 15, when a 25-year-old man was shot to death outside his home on College Avenue and East 167th Street in Morrisania. Meanwhile, as of July 15, the NYPD reported 829 shootings citywide so far in 2021, and 968 shooting victims citywide during the same period. In the 48th precinct, which serves Belmont, East Tremont and West Farms, nine homicides have been reported so far this year.

 

As of July 24, murder rates in the Bronx are up 40 percent compared to the same period last year, shooting incidents are up 62 percent and shooting victims are up 55 percent.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.