BRONX, NY – Over the recent holiday weekend, violence escalated in the Bronx, with nine separate shooting incidents reported across the five boroughs since last Friday.
Among these incidents, seven shootings took place in the Bronx within a time frame of seven hours. In the Claremont section, three men were victims of gunfire early Monday morning inside a residential building, possibly the site of a large gathering.
The shooting occurred inside 400 Claremont Parkway, with a second entrance at 1538 Webster Avenue, around 4:35 am. This act followed a shooting only blocks away, on Eastburn Avenue in Mount Hope, where four people, including a 12-year-old girl, were injured. The young girl was an uninvolved passerby, and a 23-year-old male, shot in the thigh, is suspected to have been the intended target.
Among the victims in the Claremont shooting, a 34-year-old man was shot multiple times and transported to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition. Another victim, aged 28, sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest and is also listed in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital. Additionally, a 31-year-old man, shot once in the leg, independently arrived at Bronx Lebanon Hospital in stable condition.
The New York Police Department has noted a significant increase in youth-involved shootings over the past three years. This trend continued over the weekend, with three children shot since last Friday, one of whom was killed. Wesley Vasquez, 15, was fatally shot in Riverbank State Park, and Anibal Cruz, 36, has been charged with his murder.