Blood Pool is Bad for Biz

Blood Pool is Bad for Biz

Three Wounded as Gunfire Erupts Along Busy Shopping Strip

(Photo by David Greene)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 24- Dozens of residents and shoppers walking along Morris Park Avenue had to duck for cover as gunfire erupted and three people were wounded.

Police were called to Morris Park Avenue at Victor Street at just before 3 p.m., on February 19. EMS transported two teens and a 79-year-old woman who cops say was an innocent bystander.

Sources said an 18-year-old male was shot in the arm, a 19-year old-male was shot in the leg and the unidentified senior took a stray bullet to her hand. All three were removed to Jacobi Hospital and expected to recover.

One local resident stated, "I understand it was a dispute involving two groups of young men and someone just started shooting."

As police shutdown the entire street with crime scene tape, a pool of blood could be seen outside of a dollar discount store where the elderly woman was shot as she exited the store.

A baseball bat was left on the ground outside a hardware store and several shell casings littered the sidewalk outside of a multi-service agency.

Police would quickly announce the arrest of 18-year-old Christopher Lopez, who was picked-up on Morris Park Avenue on Friday morning.

Lopez was charged with three counts of attempted murder, felony assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.

Police now say that the two teen victims were the intended targets of Lopez who is said to be a member of a rival gang. Lopez has eight previous arrests.

One business owner of a local video store claims he lost $200 in business when police refused to let him meet customers on the street. The owner explained, "I cooperated as much as possible. They wanted me to close the store I had no problem with that."

The owner continued, "I told them (the police) that my customers could call me and I'd come out and give them their movie... and they wouldn't let me do that. They didn't care."

Meanwhile, local law makers have introduced new gun legislation titled, "Luisito's Law," that calls for a tougher minimum sentence for anyone who shoots a child under the age of ten or fires a weapon near a park or a school.

The legislation is named after Luis Oyola, Jr., now 3, who was wounded in the arm inside Vidalia Park last summer.