It took nearly two months for the first murder to happen in the 52nd Precinct. It took just two days, during one noisy weekend a couple of weeks ago, for that number to triple.

Though murder numbers are still down – from four during this time last year to three this year – violent crime is picking up after a welcomed slow start to 2008.

While the first murder of the year took place in North Fordham, around 198th Street and Valentine Avenue, the second occurred on a Bedford Park side street.

In both cases, the victims were sitting inside a car when they were attacked.

On March 22, at 2:15 in the morning, police found David Marquez, 23, sitting in the driver’s seat of a silver 1997 Ford Expedition, dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Marquez was parked on East 205th Street near Briggs Avenue – about eight blocks from where the first murder of the year happened.

A week later, police arrested two young men, both under the legal drinking age, for the crime.

It appears Marquez, whose address is listed as being near the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx, may have encountered some territorial young men in Bedford Park. The two suspects arrested for the murder – Michael Molinero, 20, of 2869 Grand Concourse, and Jose Delgado, 17, of 2983 Briggs Avenue – live just blocks from the crime scene.

It’s unclear what the suspects’ motives were.

Less than 48 hours after Marquez was killed, gunfire erupted at Oasis Café, a sports bar and restaurant in the middle of Norwood’s bustling Jerome Avenue commercial district.

Sunday night had just crept into Monday morning, March 24, when Luis Paulino, 47, who had earlier been removed from the Oasis Café for arguing with another man, returned to the bar and opened fire, according to police.

Manuel Saico, 25, an Ecuadorian immigrant and a construction worker, was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital after taking a bullet to the chest. The other victim, who was shot in the torso, was considered in stable condition after being rushed to St. Barnabas.

Police said neither of the victims was embroiled in the argument with Paulino earlier in the evening. Paulino fled the scene, but was later tracked down and arrested. Police have charged him with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

The incident has made some people who frequent the area nervous. Soon after the shooting, 31-year-old Melissa Santelises, who works at a nearby tax preparation service, told the Daily News, “They let everybody drink at whatever time. They don’t care…They have no consideration.”

The Oasis Café re-opened the next day, but their owners refused to talk to reporters. A week later, the bar and restaurant were empty aside from a few staffers. The owner of the Dominican-themed restaurant, a middle-aged man, was arguing with a waitress in Spanish and in no mood to talk to the press – in any language.

“Why are you asking me this?” asked the irritated owner, who would not give his name. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I know that I have other problems. I have child support payments. I don’t know nothing.”

Other business owners and shopkeepers in the area said the Oasis doesn’t have an overly-raucous crowd, but one local resident said she had witnessed a couple of blatant drug transactions there about a month ago while she sat down for a drink.

Across the street from Oasis, at an old Irish pub called Lynch’s, several older white men sat around drinking beer in the late afternoon.

The bartender, who didn’t give his name, said he heard about the shooting on the news at his home in Jersey City. He said he recognized Paulino from the mug shot photos they were showing on television and that the man had come by to drink at Lynch’s on a couple of occasions. But he hadn’t been by for probably a year. Before learning about the shooting, he said he was barely even aware that the bar was still open.

As one of the bar patrons stepped out for a cigarette, he looked and pointed in the direction of the Oasis Café and said half jokingly, “Don’t go there if you want to live.”