Third Shooting in Seven Months
By David Greene
BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 15- A popular Mott Haven man was shot in the back as he returned home from a late night bar-b-que, the third reported shooting over a five-block stretch of Brook Avenue since January.
Cops were called at 2:30 a.m. on July 14 to the Dr. Ramon E. Betances Houses, located at 400 Brook Avenue, where Samuel Gonzalez, 27, was discovered. Gonzalez had been shot three times in the back at close range.
Gonzalez was transported to Lincoln Hospital where he died a short time later.
Multiple sources say police were looking for a black male between 20 and 25-years old, wearing blue shorts and a white tank-top.
One suspect was stopped on Jackson Avenue, but one police source maintains that, that suspect was released after being questioned at the 40th Precinct.
One detective investigating the case was asked if he thought the killing had to do with the not-guilty verdict in the racially-charged George Zimmerman case in Florida that was announced a short time before the shooting.
The detective replied, "He had left a bar-b-que and had met two girls. One of the girls noticed two guys standing on the corner... when she heard someone running up behind them," when the shots rang out.
The investigator revealed that the witness was unable to get a good look at the gunman, whose face was covered with a hat. The three slugs all went through and exited Gonzalez' body.
The detective added that there were no surveillance cameras in the area, but police already had the suspects first name, adding, "We haven't put a face with the name just yet."
Meanwhile, a large crowd kept vigil outside of Gonzalez' home and uniformed police were on hand as members of the crowd quickly became hostile to arriving members of the media.
Police say Gonzalez, who lived at Brook Avenue and E. 139 Street, had an extensive police record with more than 20 arrests for petty crimes, mostly drug possession or drug sales.
On June 2, Ivan Martinez, 21, was shot once in the head at E. 139 Street and Brook Avenue, after a dispute with two men. One published report of the incident stated police chased the suspects north on Brook Avenue, but lost them near the Betances Houses.
A third man was shot on Brook Avenue back on January 1, but survived.
Police have so far made no arrests in either homicide. Anyone with any information in either case is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1 (800) 577-TIPS.
(Bronx CSI runs on Dunkin': Crime scene investigators carry two bags of evidence into the 40th Precinct.)
--Photo by David Greene
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