And on Long Island, NY...5 Shootings in 4 months with 1 gun?!?!?

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - And on Long Island, NY...5 Shootings in 4 months with 1 gun?!?!?

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:15:33 AM EDT

A rising danger on streets of LI
Five shootings in four months are tied to one gun — just one sign, police fear, of increase in gun crimes

BY SAMUEL BRUCHEY
STAFF WRITER

September 23, 2005

In a parking lot outside a club in Ronkonkoma, a Bay Shore man, Todd Cincinnati, was shot in the buttocks after telling a stranger not to lean on his car. It was the first in a series of shootings from March until July in Suffolk County that involved as many as five gunmen and four victims - but just one gun.

During that spree, police said, the black .380 Hi-Point semiautomatic handgun was used by a Bloods gang member, and later by a member of the Killer Thugs. It left casings scattered at crime scenes from Ronkonkoma to Wyandanch, but was only recovered in July, after the fifth time it was used, police say.

Until that day, the Hi-Point moved through a hidden market for illegal weapons, where guns are bought anonymously and disposed of quickly, and where traces of past ownership and evidence of crimes are wiped away clean.

"They go from hand to hand to hand," said former gang member Sergio Argueta, founder of STRONG Youth, a Hempstead-based gang intervention organization. "For a lot of kids, it's harder to get their hands on a pack of cigarettes than it is to get a gun."

For police, the fear is simple: More illegal guns means more gun crimes, said Insp. James Burke, commanding officer of the Suffolk District Attorney's Squad.

On the whole, crime on Long Island has held steady, but gun activity is on the rise. In Nassau, for example, reports of shots fired have increased in each of the last five years - from 411 in 2000 to 593 last year. In Suffolk - where comparable numbers were unavailable - police report pockets of explosive gun violence in Huntington Station last year and in North Amityville and Wyandanch, where there have been more than 60 shootings since January.

"Illegal firearms are a much more pervasive problem than they used to be," said Burke, whose unit tries to link "crime guns" in hopes of finding patterns of crime.

For the 70,000 registered handgun owners on Long Island, obtaining a license means submitting to state and federal background checks. But hundreds of others circumvent New York's tight gun laws by purchasing unregistered weapons from people - criminals, traffickers, even college students - who buy, then sell handguns for two or three times the purchase price.

"Frankly, it's an easy way to make a buck," said John Lacey, director of the nonprofit Americans for Gun Safety.

While investigators are adept at matching the unique grooves left on bullet casings to link guns to multiple shootings, they are less successful at tracing the history of illegal weapons or keeping them off Long Island.

"By the time we get them, these guns have been in hundreds of hands," said Suffolk police Deputy Insp. Frank Stallone. "We try to get their history, but like anything else, it's a history with holes, or no history at all."

Eighty-five percent of the traceable illegal handguns seized by police in New York come from out of state, said Kevin Kelleher of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Long Island bureau. Some were stolen. Others were purchased at gun shows or from unscrupulous gun dealers who didn't bother to complete required background checks.

Where the Hi-Point came from is unknown. Cincinnati never even saw it on March 19 when he "started to have words" with the stranger outside Vibes, a bar across from the Long Island Rail Road station in Ronkonkoma, according to a statement he gave police. He declined to comment for this article.

The man walked away. But when Cincinnati turned his back, he heard firecrackers. As he drove home, his lower body ached. He noticed a side mirror on his Pontiac Grand Am was broken, and a tire was flat. He realized he had been shot.

Detectives recovered 10 casings outside Vibes. But no one was arrested, and the Hi-Point was not found. It was already on the move.

"If someone uses a gun, if it's involved in a crime, if there's a body attached to it, people will pass that gun around," Suffolk Chief of Detectives Kenneth Rau said.

The Hi-Point reappeared in Wyandanch after midnight on June 17. Two members of the Bloods, Darnell "Gutter" Lewis and Damon "Pookie" Anderson, confronted a Selden man named John Birt on Lake Drive. One was carrying a shotgun, the other had the Hi-Point, police said.

Lewis, 22, and Anderson, 30, fired at least 10 shots, striking Birt in the hip and upper leg, police said. Birt, 18, a member of the Crips, collapsed on the street, police said, while Lewis and Anderson hopped a fence, threw the shotgun in a backyard and took off.

Birt survived the shooting. Police said Lewis and Anderson were arrested on June 22 and charged with second-degree assault - but not before the Hi-Point was used again.

Three days after that shooting, and several blocks away, someone squeezed its trigger five times on the corner of Straight Path and Mount Avenue. A police officer heard shots and found the shells, but no victim, no shooter and no gun.

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:16:10 AM EDT

[#1]

Continued...

At 6 p.m. that evening, the Hi-Point was used to spray bullets into a crowded barbecue on Parkway Boulevard in Wyandanch. Tony Harrison, 24, who lives where the shooting happened, was struck in the leg. Shaniqua Agard, 17, of Central Islip, was hit in the back and neck. Neither died, police said.

On June 21, police arrested Nashaun Hammonds, a Killer Thug, and Darnell Lewis and charged them with second-degree assault for the barbecue shooting. But when Cincinnati was shown photos of the suspects, he didn't recognize any.

After that, the gun didn't reappear until July 23, when police received a call about shots fired on 27th Street in Wyandanch. A block away, the officer saw Michael Cooper, 25, of Wyandanch, walking down the street.

After four months searching for one weapon tied to five shootings, police saw it for the first time, dangling from Cooper's hand. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

Today, the Hi-Point sits on a shelf inside a police property warehouse in Yaphank, tagged and wrapped in a heat-sealed bag, waiting to be used as evidence in three separate cases.

"Unfortunately, the only thing unique about this gun is that it's not unique at all," Rau said. "These things have a way of turning up all over the place."

Behind the Island's gun numbers

Police on Long Island say they see evidence that illegal gun use is increasing.

In Nassau, reports of shots fired have increased every year since 2000 and are up more than 40 percent over the past five years.

Suffolk police don't keep track of shots fired. But while violent crime has declined over the past five years, the use of guns in such crimes has increased slightly. In addition, some neighborhoods - Huntington Station, North Amityville, Wyandanch - in the past year have seen bursts of gun-related crime that represent significant increases over previous years, top police officials said.

Trail of the trigger

Police have linked the same .380 Hi-Point semiautomatic handgun to five incidents in Suffolk County since March.

1 March 19

Railroad Avenue, Ronkonkoma.

1 man wounded, no arrests

2 June 17

Lake Drive, Wyandanch

1 man wounded; Darnell Lewis, near right, and Damon Anderson, arrested on June 22

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:16:41 AM EDT

[#2]

Continued...

3 June 20

Straight Path and Mount Avenue, Wyandanch

5 shots fired; no victims or arrests

4 June 20

Parkway Blvd., Wyandanch

Shots fired into the front yard of house. Man and teenage girl wounded.

Darnell Lewis is arrested again along with Nashaun Hammonds, far right.

5 July 23

South 27th Street, Wyandanch

Report of shots fired. Michael Cooper arrested on 28th Street with 380 Hi-Point semiautomatic handgun in his possession.

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:26:00 AM EDT

[#3]

The man walked away. But when Cincinnati turned his back, he heard firecrackers. As he drove home, his lower body ached. He noticed a side mirror on his Pontiac Grand Am was broken, and a tire was flat. He realized he had been shot.

yeah I'm REALLY using a 380 for self defense now!

At least there's no anti-legal gun propoganda here. Author clearly seperates illegal from legal guns and gunowners. Article does not addres teh gang problem though. wierd.

Some parts of LI = gutter.

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:29:36 AM EDT

[#4]

The usual suspects...Bloods, MS13, and ooooh get this, "Killer Thugs"!

Word up yo.

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:32:17 AM EDT

[#5]

Ban Hi-point .380's.

sounds like the "hidden market for illegal weapons, where guns are bought anonymously and disposed of quickly, and where traces of past ownership and evidence of crimes are wiped away clean." has a pretty small inventory.

Posted: 9/23/2005 4:53:27 AM EDT

[#6]

Here we go, I can already hear the rallying cries from the Liberals, calling to make that illegal..Oh wait, it already is illegal for gang members to shoot someone with an unregistered handgun in NY.

I got a little ahead of myself there.

What really strikes me as odd, is when the first guy got shot and didn't even know it until he saw the flat tire and broken mirror! WTF?

Chapperjoe nailed it, a .380 is not exactly a good defense pistol if the people you had to shoot don't even know they are hit until a half hour later..But of course, one well aimed shot would take care of that problem.

On a side note, it seems like more people get shot in the butt, though I suppose it's better than a center mass hit if you are receiving.

Posted: 9/23/2005 5:08:58 AM EDT

[#7]

Hey, don't dis me cuz I'm sitting on yer car, aight?

Posted: 9/23/2005 5:11:54 AM EDT

[#8]

Note to self: Suffolk county sucks.

Posted: 9/23/2005 5:12:40 AM EDT

[#9]

Eighty-five percent of the traceable illegal handguns seized by police in New York come from out of state, said Kevin Kelleher of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Long Island bureau. Some were stolen. Others were purchased at gun shows or from unscrupulous gun dealers who didn't bother to complete required background checks.

Handguns cannot legally be bought from out of state. Other than a straw purchase, how could anyone buy a handgun from a dealer or a gunshow if they were not from that state? Unscrupulous gun dealers?
Maybe I'm really stupid, but how can the background check possibly be skirted? Is it not required to even complete the paperwork or can the dealer just bank on never being audited?

Posted: 9/23/2005 5:15:40 AM EDT

[#10]

Up here in Boston the hoods are using "community guns". Weapons are hidden in various places in a neighborhood known only to the local thugs. When someone needs a "burner" they go get the gun hidden behind a certain bush, in a mail box, vacant lot etc. and return it when done.

Posted: 9/23/2005 6:16:50 AM EDT

[#11]

BTT before I log off...

Posted: 9/23/2005 6:26:30 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Up here in Boston the hoods are using "community guns". Weapons are hidden in various places in a neighborhood known only to the local thugs. When someone needs a "burner" they go get the gun hidden behind a certain bush, in a mail box, vacant lot etc. and return it when done.

Hell, that's what I do in my house.

This article should be rolled up and used to smack anybody on the head who contends that "the .380 works just fine for self defense."

Posted: 9/23/2005 6:33:03 AM EDT

[#13]

They need to ban guns in NY so this insanity can stop...

Posted: 9/23/2005 6:40:23 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Here we go, I can already hear the rallying cries from the Liberals, calling to make that illegal..Oh wait, it already is illegal for gang members to shoot someone with an unregistered handgun in NY.

I got a little ahead of myself there.

What really strikes me as odd, is when the first guy got shot and didn't even know it until he saw the flat tire and broken mirror! WTF?

Chapperjoe nailed it, a .380 is not exactly a good defense pistol if the people you had to shoot don't even know they are hit until a half hour later..But of course, one well aimed shot would take care of that problem.

On a side note, it seems like more people get shot in the butt, though I suppose it's better than a center mass hit if you are receiving.

Five bucks says the victim was not "free and clear" at the time.

Posted: 9/23/2005 6:53:32 AM EDT

[#15]

That Hi-Point should go into a museum.

Not for the victims, but for the simply uniqueness of a Hi-Point that functioned for more than one mag.

Posted: 9/23/2005 7:24:35 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

"For a lot of kids, it's harder to get their hands on a pack of cigarettes than it is to get a gun."

Posted: 9/23/2005 7:29:37 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Quoted:

"For a lot of kids, it's harder to get their hands on a pack of cigarettes than it is to get a gun."

Just to clarify, I DID NOT POST THE ABOVE COMMENT I simply cut and pasted the article from NY Newsday

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - And on Long Island, NY...5 Shootings in 4 months with 1 gun?!?!?

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us