Bronx gunmen shoot man in arm, escape scene on moped
A 23-year-old man was shot in the arm by a Bronx gunman who fled the scene on an accomplice’s moped, police said Thursday.
The Tuesday shooting marks the latest violent crime in which a moped or a scooter was used as a getaway vehicle, cops said.
The victim was outside an apartment building on Decatur Ave. near E. 193rd St. in Fordham at about 12:40 a.m. Tuesday when the gunman, dressed in all black, his head covered with a black hood, opened fire.
A bullet struck the victim in the arm as the gunman jumped on an idling moped driven by another man dressed in black.
The two men sped off east down E. 194th St. and disappeared, cops said. No arrests have been made.
The victim took himself to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was treated and released.
A motive for the shooting was not immediately disclosed.
Over the past few years, fast and nimble mopeds and scooters have been the vehicle of choice for criminals committing shootings and robberies in the five boroughs.
On Tuesday night in Manhattan, a pair of crooks on a moped pulled a gun on a man outside the high-end Italian eatery Carbone in Greenwich Village, robbing him of a $100,000 Patek Philippe watch, cops said.
On June 3, two Queens cops were wounded when a man they tried to stop speeding the wrong way down a one-way street on a moped opened fire on them, cops said. The gunman, identified as Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, was shot in the leg by the officers and charged with attempted murder of a police officer.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said robberies where mopeds were used have risen exponentially over the past year.
“Just to paint you a quick picture of how many of these crimes are being committed: January to June 2022, zero robbery patterns involving motorized scooters or motorcycles,” Kenny said during a press conference earlier this month. “The same time period [in] 2023, 20 robbery patterns. Year to date so far this year … we have over 80 robbery patterns citywide involving incidents where the perpetrators are riding motorized scooters or motorcycles.”
In an attempt to combat the increase, the NYPD has conducted massive crackdowns on unregistered or uninsured mopeds and scooters that could be used in future crimes.
Anyone with information regarding Tuesday’s shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
