20 gang members indicted in 15 West Farms shootings
The indictment claims the shootings targeted rival gang members - resulting in one death - and that the majority happened in public places in the middle of the day.
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Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, New York City Police Chief Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams announced the indictment of 20 members of the 800 YGz gang Thursday, saying they are responsible for 15 shootings in West Farms between April 2021 and July 2024.
"This conspiracy of violence turned the west farms neighborhood into a shooting gallery," said Clark.
The indictment claims the shootings targeted rival gang members - resulting in one death - and that the majority happened in public places in the middle of the day.
Clark described the shooting as "some of the most brazen, terrifying incidents of gunfire inflicted on a neighborhood, violating the basic right to be safe."
Surveillance video shows shots being fired in front of a family with young kids, toward a bus at a busy intersection, from outside a barbershop and twice, in a crowded middle school playground.
"It's an absolute disregard for human life," said Tisch. "For this gang, it ends today."
The 20 alleged gang members now face 73 charges, including murder, manslaughter reckless endangerment and robbery.
"This has to stop, and today is a way that we are holding these people accountable," said Clark.
According to the DA's office, half of the people indicted were teenagers at the time of the shoots, and more than half of them already had previous arrests for other gun charges.
"It's frustrating, it's devastating to communities," Clark said.
Mayor Eric Adams calls the repeated crimes by the same people "Groundhog Day for crime."
Of the 20 people who were indicted, at least one has been released and three of them have not been arrested.
Tisch did promise that police would find those three suspects.
News 12 Reporter Greg Thompson's Thursday evening report on the indictment of 20 alleged gang members
