Cops Strained?
NYPD Scrambles to Cover Rash of Homicides as Protests Continue
By David Greene
BRONX, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 10- As NYPD officials are about to enjoy yet another all-time record low for homicides, but despite the cold and wet weather police reported no less than eight shootings in the first week of December-- including at least five homicides.
As uniformed officers have been diverted out of the borough by the van loads to cover the NYPD protests in Manhattan, detectives are now investigating five homicides that occurred in the last week.
On December 1, police say two men and a woman were shot outside of 1932 Jerome Avenue and all were expected to recover.
Police captured all three suspects a short distance away and two handguns were reportedly recovered at the scene.
On December 2, police say Dune Janelle Jacobs, 31, a Manhattan chef returning home from work, was shot once in the head at 1 a.m. along East 213 Street in the Williamsbridge section.
Police have made no arrests in the case and were looking for three men who were seen fleeing in a white vehicle.
At 5:30 p.m. on December 5, police say Timothy Hairston, 27, was shot several times in the chest outside of the Lincoln Care Drugs along East 165 Street in the Melrose section. Hairston died a short time later at Lincoln Hospital.
On December 6, a 14 year-old was shot along East 213 Street near White Plains Road. The victim was shot in the arm at 10 a.m. and was treated and released from Jacobi Hospital.
Police were looking for the male gunman and the female who police say took the gun after the shooting and fled in a gray Nissan Sentra.
Cops were also looking for the gunman who shot three victims outside of Club Miami on Bruckner Boulevard and Alexander Avenue in the Mott Haven section.
That incident was reported at 3:30 a.m. on December 7. EMS reported a 26-year-old man was shot in both legs. A 30-year-old man was shot in the thigh and a woman also shot, were transported to a local hospital by a civilian auto.
Investigators were looking for the gunman who was wearing black jeans, gray sweatshirt and white sneakers and who fled in a red Jeep Cherokee with a smashed drivers side window.
At just after 4 p.m. on December 8, police were called to East 168 Street and discovered a male in his 30's shot repeatedly inside his black BMW outside of the Ultimate Gas Station.
Police sources stated that two victims had been shot through the car's windshield and speculated that the killing was a "carjacking gone wrong," and investigators continue to investigate.
The second victim was also shot in the chest and was reported to be recovering at Lincoln Hospital.
Minutes later police were called to Macombs Road in the Mount Eden section, where police say Willie Lora, 21, was shot in the chest inside the building where he lived.
Lora was rushed to Bronx Lebanon where he died.
On December 8, police revealed that officers performing a wellness check found a woman dead on December 3rd, has been ruled a homicide.
Police now say that the woman identified as Cynthia Taylor, 51, had been stabbed multiple times in the torso inside her Clarke Street apartment in the Concourse section.
The medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide. Police had no suspects at this time.
