Nearly 20 members of two violent gangs were busted for a spate of shootings in the Bronx that killed a man, wounded several bystanders and terrorized residents of neighboring communities, officials said Monday.
Even with record low shootings and homicides across the five boroughs, according to city officials, tenants and homeowners in Claremont, Belmont and other Bronx neighborhoods still lived in fear as deadly gun violence threatened young and old, many of whom had nothing to do with the beefs at the root of the gang wars.
One victim, Nixon Rodriguez, who was fatally shot two years ago, was believed to be a member of the 9Raq gang, shot by his own crew member during a failed retaliatory mission inside rival gang territory, law enforcement officials said.
But other victims included a 75-year-old man who was shot in the thigh nearly three years ago when two moped-riding gang members opened fire on a rival along E. 180th St.
“These defendants allegedly treated our neighborhoods like battlegrounds – firing guns on busy streets, striking innocent bystanders, and bragging about it on social media,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. “Their violence showed no regard for human life.”
The shootings outlined in the indictment occurred between May 2021 and May 2025, officials said. In addition to the arrests, the long-term investigation also got 15 guns off the street.
“From upstream interventions to downstream solutions, we are delivering every day to keep New Yorkers safe,” Mayor Adams said in a statement. “Our relentless focus on violent crime has resulted in record low [in] shootings and homicides for the first five months of the year, and major crime is down over 6%.”
Officials said some of the shooters would brag about their gunplay on social media.
Last month a suspected shooter posted a drill rap music video to his Instagram admitting his role in a shootout in March during which at least 17 shots were fired, officials said.
None of the shots hit the targets, but one grazed a bystander.
“I don’t know how we missed them,” he said.
Bronx DA Darcel Clark called the violence “a callous disregard for human life.”
“Yet again, we are talking about adolescents being killed or facing prison if they are convicted of this violence,” Clark said in a statement. “We must find solutions. I cannot abide losing a generation this way.”
