A 29-year-old man has died following a fatal shooting in the Van Nest section of The Bronx, police said.

 

An NYPD spokesperson said that on Monday, Dec. 26, at 9.08 p.m., officers responded to a 911 call regarding a man who had been shot at Van Nest Avenue and Melville Street.

 

“Upon arrival, police discovered a 29-year-old male shot in the chest,” the spokesperson said. “EMS transported the victim to New York Health and Hospitals/Jacobi where he was pronounced deceased.”

 

Police said there are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing.

 

On Dec. 27, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) took steps to close the ‘ghost gun’ loophole by issuing an open letter to assist the firearms industry and the public in understanding whether certain semiautomatic, striker-fired pistols (sometimes referred to as “Glock-type” pistols) have reached a stage of manufacture such that they “may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted” to a functional frame, and are therefore classified as “frames” or “firearms” in accordance with the final rule titled definition of ‘frame or receiver’ and identification of firearms (Final Rule 2021R-05F) in the law which became effective August 24, 2022.

 

In response, on Dec. 28, New York City Mayor Eric Adams released the following statement. “The numbers don’t lie; the proliferation of ghost guns in New York City and in big cities across the nation is the fastest-growing, gun safety problem facing our country,” the mayor said. “This year alone, the NYPD has recovered more than 430 ghost guns, the highest number in city history, and a staggering 2,400-percent increase from the 17 recovered in 2018.”

 

He continued, “Our administration has taken aggressive action against ghost gun manufacturers, but the existing loophole that enables vendors to sell near-complete frames and receivers that are easily converted into operational and untraceable firearms is substantially undermining our efforts, taking lives, and helping criminals avoid prosecution.”

 

Adams said he applauded the Biden-Harris administration, and ATF specifically, for taking what he said was a commonsense step to regulating the sale of deadly weapons, and closing a longstanding loophole that he said has contributed to the increase in violent crime across the country. “We know that nothing can bring back the victims of gun violence, but this action will help spare more families the heartbreak of losing a loved one to these deadly and untraceable weapons,” he said.

 

Earlier this year, Adams spoke with ATF director, Steven Dettelbach, about closing the ghost gun loophole. This past summer, the City of New York filed a lawsuit against five companies that were unlawfully selling ghost gun kits to New Yorkers. Four of the companies agreed to stop the unlawful behavior, while the courts issued a preliminary injunction to stop the last company’s illegal behavior.

 

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.