Murder Charges for Norwood Man

By DAVID CRUZ

Bad blood and jealousy ended with the death of one man and the arrest of another for his murder.

Police said Dwayne Saunders, 37, of Queens, was fatally struck by two bullets as he ran for his life along East 209th Street and Perry Avenue on May 1.

Detectives 52nd Precinct and Bronx Homicide Task Force arrested Tyrone Frank, 33, on June 7, more than a month after police distributed wanted fliers alleging he fatally shot Saunders.

Police said the shooting was sparked when Frank ran into Saunders hanging out in a playground with Saunders’ current girlfriend and his old girlfriend, now going out with Frank.

“Saunders and his current girlfriend were in the area getting his car fixed when they encountered his old girlfriend,” said a police source. “The three of them go to the park to hang out, where Frank encounters them and shoots Saunders.”

Saunders’ death was the second in a list of fatal deaths that happened with Norwood’s boundaries in recent weeks. The trend began on April 23, when a 38-year-old man was shot to death inside 3152 Hull Ave. On May 29, Damion C. Gilbert, 18, was found by police stabbed to death at the corner of DeKalb Avenue and East 212th Street.

The fatal stabbing pushed the homicide rate at three, one more than the total number of homicides that happened at the Five-Two last year.

Norwood resident faces murder and weapons possession charges in the death of Queens man on May 1.

Tyrone Frank, 33, was arrested on June 7 more than a month after police distributed wanted fliers alleging he fatally shot Dwayne Saunders, 37. The incident happened at the corner of East 209th Street and Perry Avenue in broad daylight. Frank was spotted fleeing the scene in a 2015 Honda Civic. Saunders was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center and later died.

Saunders was known by officers of the 52nd Precinct. Frank has a criminal record, having registered as a sex offender since 2003 after he was found guilty of pimping a 14-year-old girl.

Additional reporting by Bob Kappstatter

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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.