(Photo by David Greene)
By David Greene
Two men are recovering after a New Year's Eve dispute at a Morris Park social club led to gunfire.
Police were called to 827-829 Morris Park Avenue, at 8:20 p.m., on December 31, and discovered the two victims. According to Detective Cheryl Crispin, two white males were transported to Jacobi Hospital. A 34-year old was shot in the leg and a 35-year old was shot in the thigh. Both men were expected to recover.
Crispin said the shooting took place after a, "personal dispute," began inside the private club, adding, "The suspect is a male, white, 37-years of age, who is known to the victims (and) we are looking for him."
Sources in the community say the social club is operated by members of the Albanian community and had changed owners recently, but has been in the community for about the last 15-years.
One Morris Park source stated, "It's been fairly quiet and there hasn't been a problem... so we’re hoping it's an isolated incident or we'll have to move to shut them down."
The shootings continued in the New Year as two other men were shot at the intersection of Boston Road and Eastchester Road, at 4:30 a.m., on Sunday, January 2.
Police say one man in his 40s was shot multiple times and a second man in his 40s was shot in the leg and both were transported by EMS to Jacobi Hospital. Both men were expected to survive and police continue to hunt for the gunman in this case.
As of December 19, there were 516 homicides citywide, up 13.7 percent over last year's total of 454. As of December 26, the Bronx recorded 125 murders over last year's 110 killings, up 13.6 percent.
Rape was also up in the borough by 7.2 percent and felony assaults were up 2.0 percent over 2009.
