One day after a 12-year-old was fatally shot in the Mount Eden neighborhood of the Bronx, the NYPD said officers assigned to the Bronx Dominican Day Parade and related enforcement recovered 16 guns in the same precinct.
According to police, officers also made 16 gun-related arrests in the 44th Precinct during the parade and activities afterward. One of the weapons recovered was an assault rifle, police said. Last year, three people were shot and injured and a fourth was stabbed along or near the parade route, authorities said.
Police charged 45-year-old William Ferrer with murder and other crimes in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes and the wounding of two other men on Saturday. Ferrer pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Sunday night and was ordered held without bail, court records show. His attorney said Ferrer is presumed innocent and intends to fight the charges in court.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson called the killing a painful reminder of the city’s ongoing struggle with gun violence.
"These damn guns, these damn guns, these damn guns that we continue to get rid of in our community, there are so many more, and what a painful reminder that this work does not end. The work continues," Gibson said in a post on social media.
