Deadly Weekend

Deadly Weekend

Two Bronxites Dead After Wave of Weekend Violence

By David Greene

At least three people were killed and 16 injured after a wave of weekend violence across the city that has claimed the lives of two Bronxites.

Police say Highbridge resident Jason Bragg, 33, was discovered shot to death on 219 Street in St. Albans, Queens at 10:22 p.m. on Saturday, June 28. He had been shot once in the head and discovered lying face down on the sidewalk.

Bragg's killer remains at large, but police continue to investigate.

At 4:59 a.m. on Sunday, June 29, police were called to 2766 University Avenue at East 195 Street after a male victim was shot in the chest. He later died at St. Barnabas Hospital.

One police source stated, "acting on the description provided by a 911 caller, members of the 50th Precinct immediately initiated a canvas and the suspect was apprehended in the immediate area of the shooting."

Police would question and later charge Jason Delgado, 29, who lived across the street from the shooting scene at 2761 University Avenue, with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

Investigators would later identify the victim as Roderick Romney, 24, a life-long resident of nearby Reservoir Avenue.

One neighbor of Romney's claimed that the victim and perpetrator had been friends. Delgado was expected to be arraigned on Monday, June 30.

In other Bronx shootings, a man was shot in the back at just after midnight on Sunday, at 730 Kelly Street within the 41st Precinct command. The unidentified victim is expected to survive.

Later the same day a man was reportedly stabbed at 1725 Andrews Avenue. Police were looking for a suspect described as a black male, wearing a black shirt and black hat, who fled southbound on Andrews. The unidentified victim was recovering at a local hospital.

Two people were shot at just before 10 p.m. on Sunday at 1115 College Avenue. Police say a female victim transported herself to a local hospital and a 14-year old male was shot in the ankle. Both victims are recovering at Lincoln Hospital.

At just after midnight Monday, June 30, a person was reported shot at 3406 Gunther Avenue, that victim was not expected to survive and no other details were immediately available. 

Reporters covering the LGBT Pride Parade in Manhattan on Sunday say Mayor Bill de Blasio ignored questions about the shootings, but his office later issued a statement that read, "The Mayor and the Police Department are working closely to put hundreds of more officers on the streets, deploy cops to areas experiencing crime spikes and utilize innovative strategies to catch bad guys and keep neighborhoods safe."

Officials say that 100 of those uniformed officers will be hitting the street's across the five boroughs in the coming week.