Gang related graffiti on Councilmember Moya’s office building (Moya’s Twitter)
Feb. 7, 2019 By Meghan Sackman
Councilmember Francisco Moya is holding a town hall meeting in Corona next week to discuss what is being done to combat gang violence in the wake of Sunday’s 90th Street/ Elmhurst Ave shooting.
The NYPD will be sending officers from the 115th and 110th Precincts to let the public know what gang activity has been taking place in the area and what they are doing to stop it. Residents will be able to ask the police questions or state their concerns.
The meeting, which will take place on Feb. 15 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Leo Catholic Academy school at 104-19 49th Ave., comes days after a 20-year-old man was shot dead on the 7-train platform by a reputed MS-13 member in an apparent gang dispute.
The incident was caught on video and went viral in a matter of hours, causing alarm throughout the city. The alleged perpetrator, Ramiro Gutierrez, 26, is reportedly an undocumented immigrant and President Donald Trump used the incident in his State of the Union speech as a means to promote the need for a border wall.
The subway shooting also came around the same time that graffiti that read “MS-13” was scribbled on Moya’s office building. The council member believes the incident is unrelated to the shooting despite the apparent gang affiliation.
“Regarding the MS-13 graffiti scrawled on my office: There is no evidence that this was connected to the shooting, that my office was specifically targeted, nor even that an MS-13 gang member is actually responsible,” Moya wrote in a post on Facebook. “The graffiti has been painted over, as it has in several other locations around our community over the past year.”
The council member also took to Facebook to notify residents that police have stepped up their presence in the area as they attempt to stamp out gang activity.
Moya also said that the incident should not be used as a propaganda tool to promote Trump’s border wall.
“In order to root out gang activity, we need community members to be partners, not targets. Now is a time to come together, not to be driven apart by walls and deportation forces,” Moya said.
There have been a number of incidents in Queens involving MS-13 and other major gangs in recent months, such as an MS-13 shooting in the Rockaways, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.
Shea also spoke of some activity within the area, noting that there is “a group of smaller gangs or cliques…particularly on some of the Roosevelt Avenue corridors in the 110, and 115th Precinct.”
Shea said that gang-related crime is not new to the area and that the graphic video footage–spread by social media– has created greater alarm than in the past. He insisted that crime remains low and that the public should put the incident in perspective.
“Crime is at the lowest levels we’ve ever had in New York City,” he said. “Incidents like these have happened before. It’s just that they’re captured now. Everyone’s walking around with a smartphone and within minutes of those crimes occurring, they’re going viral.”
Flyer for Town Hall Meeting (Councilmember Moya’s Facebook)
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22 Comments
If NYPD can focus more on actual crimes and less on revenue generating activity, we could have a more peaceful neighborhood. After every report “known gang member” or “known activity area”.. If you know why can’t you just round them up and ship them back to where they came from or put them in jail. Oh jails are overcrowded, you know why because they catch easy to catch ones this is why they are so overcrowded. Real criminals are walking the street, non-violent “criminals” are filling up the jails.
Ok after reading all comments I must tell you. Stop and frisk, sanctuary cities. Why is everything done to extremes? If stop and frisk was only done to people that really looked dangerous or looked like they were consealing somesort of weapon. ok. Not justblack or hispanic. If sanctuary cities would ask for ID’s in people that looked like crimminals. Then things would not be so crazy. (please dont tell me you don’t know what a dangerous person looks like. I see regular citizens avoid them on the train, bus and street every day.) These meetings are only photo -ops for the politicians and police to make them look concerned. This goes back decades to when Corona and Jackson Heights were and still have the most bordelos in the tri- state. They have been having meetings with (rest in peace) Jose Peralta. Who always said we are doing all we can. Which was nothing, the police would say we are giving them tickets. (Which was laughable). They never said we are closing all of them down. Why???? Now that Jackon Heights is becoming an up an comming neighborhood. Otherwise, GENTRIFICATION. You pay more for apartments, rents. Now its an outrage, the y knew that these whorehouses where gang controlled along with false documents they sold. If you lived in the Jackson Heights area you knew what was going on. Tbey woyld offer different things to you as you were walking down Roosevelt Ave. I hope they do something now, but I doubt it. Or until the prices of the apartments go as high as Forest Hills.
As far as stop and frisk goes.. just because someone looks dangerous or looks like they might be carrying a weapon (ex. oversized jacket) doesn’t necessarily mean that they are. Its a fact of life.. sometimes its who you least expect. Stop and frisk was random. And it worked. It does not target one specific race. I know plenty of white people who have been frisked. Im Hispanic just to be clear and i supported stop and frisk. Last thing.. gentrification is nonexistant. No one neighborhood will stay the same forever. People come and go. Neighborhoods change, people change. Some of us cant accept or adjust to changes, which makes everyone scream “Gentrification”.. if you want to call it that.. i just call it cleaning up. When i was young, Jackson Heights was beautiful.. looking back 40-50 years ago.. it really declined over the years.. Maybe its time for “Gentrification.”
Just another day, so goes life in our “Sanctuary City”.
You should move to a Republican paradise like Alabama
Dear “what a terrible city!” Better yet, these illegal alien criminals should move back to their h̶e̶l̶l̶h̶o̶l̶e̶ paradise countries.
But you’d still have to endure this liberal city it looks and it’s horrible policies! You should move to a state practicing wonderful a Republican Values that lead to teenage pregnancy and an obesity epidemic.
You can have all the town Halls you want in regards to gang violence. Won’t matter one bit want to know why? Take a real close look at the two major players in this recent shooting and there you have your answer. The victim, who was a gang-banger and was illegally carrying a firearm, gets into a fight on a train with opposing bangers, scuffle then ensues, loses his weapon, then takes #6 to the face from his own piece. The shooter, clearly lacking any sense of intelligence, figures that his life isn’t going anywhere fast so, decides that committing murder is the best option to take instead of walking away. My point is, these kinds of people are not smart. And that is putting it mildly. Actually, they’re really dumb and stupid. Simply footnotes and statistics soon to be quickly forgotten by the next fools ready to take their place.
Bj, you seem to know a lot about this incident, much more than the average bear. “The victim….takes #6 to the face from his own piece.” His own gun, how do you know this? Fill in some more details, tell us the whole story.
The shooter, Ramiro Gutierrez (age 26) is an illegal alien. With at least four prior arrests he was well known to NYPD. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should have shackled this lowlife and deported him back to “hellhole-land” years ago .
Why are these predators allowed to remain in the U.S.? Is it because of the Cuomo/DeBalsio sanctuary NY policy? Why are they and the thousand others like them still here? Are they “dreamers”? Were they “anchor babies” or “DACA” niños? Or are they pulling some “asylum” scam? Just what is the reason for encouraging such criminals to come and live in our country?
Given their history and background these shouldn’t even be here, let alone riding the #7 train.
Did you not watch the video of the shooting? Did you not see the obvious scramble – fighting for the loose weapon? (Watch the video again carefully and pay close attention to each person involved.) Did you not see the gun itself slide on the concrete and be picked up by the eventual shooter? Did you not read various eyewitness accounts that were printed that state the victim pulled the gun first? Well I did and that’s what I concluded from it all.
Put more police on foot patrol please .
The neighborhood needs more police officers patrolling on foot , Not more meeting.
There was so many NYPD the day after the shooting at the 90st station and now today in the afternoon just 2 cops standing there.
next week there will be none
These meeting are useless , The police know who and where these criminals are , where these smaller gangs are . 115pct & 110pct is unwilling or unable to do something about it.
NYPD needs to be more proactive.
No need to have a meeting , they should be more aggressive towards these criminals.
Yes and get rid of those mopeds Riding on the sidewalk no helmets going the wrong way
Those meeting is always a circus , everyone talks at the same time , then people start yelling they get off the topic and no real answers are given.
“He insisted that crime remains low and that the public should put the incident in perspective” In other words, let’s keep the status quo. As long as crimes go unreported everything is golden.
Yeah, Shea is saying that gang activity is normal in the area and to not worry about it. Well he should know that this incident is the straw that broke the camel’s back and that the community will not tolerate authorities that protect MS13, Surenos, 18 Street,etc. Moya, Ramos, Ocasio Cortez, Di Blasio, Drom, should be held accountable and punished on the next elections
Stop the violence!
Bring Back Stop and Frisk!
I agree, the 4th amendment is meaningless, why should there be any limit to what police can do to citizens?!
It does not matter how many Town Halls are held to combat gangs, if the NYPD is not allowed to cooperate with ICE and deport these criminals due to the so called “sanctuary city laws”, which Moya and his left wing pals promote. The MS13 member involved in the shooting was arrested a few months ago, and later release. Why wasn’t he deported since he was an illegal alien??? This is something that should be asked and hold all these left wing politicians accountable. ICE should have a strong presence in the neighborhood and NYPD should cooperate to get rid of this plague.