Wave of gun raps for Bx. ‘lost generation’
Thirteen people — including five 16-year-old boys — were indicted in the Bronx Thursday for a string of violent crimes that include the murders of two teens and the shootings of two men who survived the bloody attacks.
The crimes, including a rash of robberies and car jackings, highlighted a ruthless summer of pain that targeted young and old in an endless onslaught authorities tied to increased gang activity that Bronx DA Darcel Clark labeled “an utter catastrophe.”
“These defendants are charged in a string of violent crimes, culminating in the murders of two boys, that contributed to a brutal summer,” said Clark.
“These indictments are an assurance to the people of the Bronx that we will hold accountable anyone who brings gunfire to our streets. But these indictments are also a tragic chronicle of a lost generation: boys and young men who turned to guns, and two lives were taken and 14 lives have been squandered.”
Clark said defendants Jahlil Califf, 16, and Justin Baez, 18, were charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of 13-year-old Jaryan Elliott.
Alec McFarlane, 16, and Tyquan Howard, 16, were charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Ramon Gil-Medrano.
Baez was also charged with attempted murder for shooting two other men, Clark said.
Elliot was standing outside Angels Café in Belmont just after 3:15 p.m. on July 11 when a shooter stepped out of a car and opened fire.
The teen was hit several times, and died later at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Gil-Medrano was killed the same day by two gunmen on scooters who shot him in the head and torso while he was sitting in the back of a livery cab at E. 178th St. and Valentine Ave. in Tremont shortly after 11:30 p.m.
A year earlier, Gil-Medrano was wounded in a shooting. Family members said he had taken the livery cab because he thought it was the safest way to travel.
Investigators said the shootings involved members of two rival neighborhood crews, the 800 YGs based in Belmont and Thirdside, which is based in the Norwood/Mosholu area of the Bronx.
“This is yet another case illustrating the endless stream of guns in our city and their devastating impact on victims’ lives,” said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
“Each gun seized tells the story of kids and others gunned down in the street, of mothers and loved ones in mourning, and of neighborhoods traumatized.”
Charges against the other defendants included weapons possession, conspiracy robbery and grand larceny.