By Daniel Katzive
The murder that occurred on Sunday, May 1 at West 102nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue near the Frederick Douglass Houses remains unsolved.
Deputy Inspector Naoki Yaguchi, commanding officer of the 24th Precinct, told attendees at Wednesday’s monthly Community Council meeting that detectives are working hard on the case and believe they have a good handle on what occurred. He was not able to provide more details, given sensitivities around the ongoing investigation, but he did say the incident is not believed to be gang-related. This is the only murder thus far in the precinct this year.
In other news, the precinct has had some success in reducing grand larceny shoplifting incidents in the stores along Columbus Avenue between 100th and 97th Street, DI Yaguchi reported. He credited cooperative efforts between the officers patrolling that sector and Target and other large retailers along that stretch.
The guest speaker was Shawn McMahon, chief of the District Attorney’s Crime Strategies Unit, who addressed community perceptions that prosecution decisions are often too lenient.
McMahon said the pandemic had slowed prosecutions of gun crimes, because grand juries could not be impaneled for felony indictments, but the grand jury system is now fully operational again. Conditions at Rikers Island and the young age of many of those arrested for weapons possession are two other factors that have limited prosecutors’ ability to hold defendants accused of weapons possession ahead of trial.
Deputy Inspector Yaguchi will appear alongside Captain Neil Zuber of the 20th Precinct and Deputy Inspector William Gallagher of the Central Park Precinct via Zoom Thursday night at 6:30 PM, in a virtual forum meeting sponsored by the Upper West Side Coalition of Block Associations and Community Groups. See Wednesday’s West Side Rag article for details and link.
I regret not attending. Would love to get more information on why the number of tickets has dropped so much over the past couple years.
96th and Broadway (and WEA) is truly unbelievable. *An infraction (blown light, speeding, illegal turn) a minute*. I dare anyone to prove me wrong during a rush hour.
I had to help two elderly women cross the street, in fear that they wouldn’t make it.
The meetings are the 3rd Wednesday of each month. The next meeting will be at the library across the street from the precinct at 7pm That date will be June 15th
Pls come to the meeting as its open to all, be they residents or local merchants. Many of our merchants now come to be more of our community
Shoplifting is down in the strip mall section of Columbus because all the stores are out of business.
I am sorry to say that you are right
Good point!
Most of the shoplifting incidents were from Target and there are only a couple businesses like Michael’s that are gone but that were busy.
This is why we need more cops and more cameras. There should be one at every corner like Europe.
Well, we are very lucky to live in this area.
It is a little annoying to try to dodge ten different nonprofits/candy sellers/various other solicitations while just trying to get to the supermarket.
First world problem, for sure.
Last week while I was waiting for my booster downstairs at the Duane Reade on 111th and Broadway, a young man showed up with a large bag and started throwing various items into it, ignoring the staff yelling at him and the line of customers right next to him. After about 30 seconds he ran back upstairs and, I assume, out into the street. I guess this is pretty common now but still pretty shocking to see at 4pm in the afternoon.