Photo by Síle Moloney
Police have arrested two people following the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old young man and the wounding of a second 19-year-old male youth during an apparent drive-by shooting following a Fourth of July street celebration in Fordham Heights.
As reported, police said that on Wednesday, July 5, at around 2.21 a.m., officers from the 46th Precinct responded to a 911 call regarding two young men who had been shot at 2256 Morris Avenue.
“Upon arrival officers observed an 18-year-old male with a gun shot wound to the leg and 19-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the hip,” a police spokesperson said.
Photo by Síle Moloney
“The 18-year-old male was transported by EMS to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced deceased,” the spokesperson added. According to police, the 19-year-old male was transported by EMS to St. Barnabas in stable condition. The spokesperson said two persons of interest have been taken into custody and the investigation remains ongoing.
Later on July 5, pursuant to an ongoing investigation, police said Ariel Velasquez, 19, of Heath Avenue in University Heights was arrested at in the 46th Precinct. They said at 4.25 p.m. the same day, he was charged with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Additionally, they said Ramon Santos, 28, of East 21st Street in Brooklyn was also arrested. They said he was charged with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
We spoke to one super who lived on the block about the incident later on Wednesday morning and who declined to be identified. He said he was a father to two children aged 8 and 12 and that the incident was a pity and worrisome. He said it disturbed him knowing how young the victims were and added that his kids woke up to the see the police and the crime scene and that it was shocking to them.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Speaking in Spanish, the Super said he and others had been [quietly/calmly] celebrating the Fourth of July on the street with family and friends the previous evening. “There was no abnormality [at that stage],” he said of the evening’s gathering and festivities. He said he had gone inside by around 12.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning and said he didn’t hear the gunshots or see anything happen on the street.
He said he only heard about the shooting when he got up the following morning, and added that he knew the person who died to see as he had often been seen in the local area, though the man said the deceased young man did not live on the block. “It seems he lives around here [in the neighborhood] but I don’t know him,” the Super said.
He suggested that maybe the shooting was gang-related but said he didn’t know for sure. The Super said he lived in the area more than 9 years and seemed pretty sure the “problem” came from another area / block. “You want another type of example other than this kind of drama for your kids,” he said. “You don’t feel safe. You feel vulnerable. What do you do?” he asked.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Asked how many people were celebrating on the street the previous evening, where the remnants of fireworks and American paper flags were seen scattered on the street, the Super estimated about 1,000 in different family groups in front of each building.
Many other people we spoke to on the block did not see or hear what happened and said they had been inside. One young man who declined to be identified said he heard fireworks throughout the night but that maybe some had been gunshots.
Once informed that one person was dead and one was injured, one older man who did not live on the block where the shooting happened but a few blocks away and who declined to be identified said, “Well, this is not good. This is not good.” Asked if he felt fearful for his safety, he said, “Yes, of course.”
Photo by Síle Moloney
An employee of a local store located on the corner of Morris Avenue and 182nd Street whose CCTV cameras recorded the shooting, and who also declined to be identified, said he had just closed up at around 2 a.m. and had left the store when a white car drove up the block [Morris Avenue] in the direction of 183rd Street, opened fire on the victims, and then reversed back down the block while still shooting from the car.
He added that the video was grainy and difficult to make out but said you could see the lights of the gun fire in the video but not really the victims. The store employee added that he himself had been shot in the leg before he knee cap several years earlier and though he had recovered, he knee cap had been damaged and he said he could imagine that if a bullet hit an artery, a person could “bleed out.”
Another elderly man we spoke to on the block who declined to be identified, did not witness the event and who lived on a nearby block, said in Spanish in reference to the shooting, “It’s the fault of the authorities.” He said the authorities and the police did not care about the neighborhood and added they were only concerned with more affluent neighborhoods.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Asked if he could be more specific in terms of the neighborhoods he was referring to, he simply said the neighborhoods where the middle class lived and said nobody cared about the people who lived in the vicinity of the shooting.
One other young store employee who declined to be identified but who works on the block where the shooting occurred and who said he is is an immigrant from Yemen, said he was home asleep at the time of the shooting. He said he heard from other people [who also showed him a photo] who the person was who had been fatally shot and added that he recognized who it was when he saw the picture, though he said he did not know the victim well. He added that he seemed like a “good guy.”
“I came here at around 5.30 a.m. and opened the store and I saw the police,” he said, adding that when the victim was described to him, he recalled that he [the victim] had been in the store about two days prior. “I see him around sometimes,” he said. “He comes here.”
Photo by Síle Moloney
Asked if he was aware of gang related activity in the neighborhood, he said, “I don’t know. I don’t mix with those people because I come from another country. I work. That’s my job and go home. That’s it.” The store employee added that he believed some people sitting on the corner outside the store knew the victim but when we spoke with them, they said they didn’t know anything about what had happened the previous evening.
Asked how he felt knowing that someone had been shot and killed on the block, the store employee said, “That’s too bad. I lost my country. I lost my friends. They died in the war so I feel so bad.”
Another young woman we spoke to who also declined to be identified and who lived close to the crime scene said she grew up in Queens. “We didn’t see this. It was a quiet neighborhood – no shootings, no ambulance, no fire department, no police. I’m afraid to go out at night. I stay in.”
Asked if she had also stayed in for the Fourth of July celebrations the previous evening, she said yes. “I didn’t hear anything. I live on the other side of Creston.” She added, “The shootings…. the stabbings….it’s getting to be very scary. I mean I was standing in front of my building in the summer in broad daylight, kids got out of the car and started shootin’ right in front of me last June maybe a year ago….the first of the month. I had to duck right in front of 121 East 182nd.”
Photo by Síle Moloney
She continued, “About eight people and they didn’t shoot to kill. They just shot to scare the kid. I mean, it’s very scary. I don’t feel safe here. Like I said I grew up in Queens, we don’t have this.” Asked if she noticed a lot of police presence / patrol on the block, the young woman said, “No, the only thing is they only come when you’re bleeding or you’re shot or you’re stabbed. Otherwise, they take like 10 hours to show up. I mean, I don’t even bother to even call the cops for anything anymore because they take forever.”
She continued, “Like I got this guy was calling me a couple years ago and they didn’t believe me. Well, when I got raped, they came right away and took the report. They never caught the guy. It’s what this neighborhood is – they don’t care. Asked if the rape happened in the same neighborhood, she said, “Inside my apartment, in my building.”
She added, “They [the cops] don’t care. It’s very scary to even walk out here in broad daylight. Last year, on the last day of school, they shot a guy in broad daylight on Creston [Avenue] – very scary. You can’t go out at night. You can’t go out during the day. It’s not safe around here.”
A brief video of the crime scene can be seen here.
A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.
Anyone with information in regard to 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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