- 7 months ago
NYC Mayor Eric Adams holds a press briefing to highlight a crackdown on gangs.
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00:00All right. Good morning, everyone. I want to thank you all for being here. I'd like to thank
00:12the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams for being here, as well as our police commissioner,
00:18Jessica Tisch, for joining us. It's great to see all of you again, and I'm particularly
00:23grateful that the mayor and police commissioner found the opportunity to stand with us again
00:31on this important case. This case exemplifies the ability for the Kings County District
00:38Attorney's Office and the NYPD to coordinate together to help reduce crime and keep our
00:44city safe. I want to also acknowledge the detectives, who the police commissioner will
00:52introduce or talk about, but also the prosecutors who worked very tirelessly on this case. This
01:01work is extremely difficult work in putting together past shootings and homicides, and so
01:08I am grateful for the team. In particular, the prosecutors who worked very hard in this
01:15case are Omar Harding, Katerina Kuturva, and Matt Bolin, also with the supervisors who are standing
01:24here today. Today's topic, once again, is gun violence, and what we're doing here in Brooklyn,
01:33coordinating with the New York City Police Department in trying to prevent gun violence
01:38violence and in fact reduce it. Last time we got together earlier this year, I was happy to report
01:47that 2024 was in fact the safest year in Brooklyn's history in terms of shooting incidents and shooting
01:56victimization. Brooklyn has never had fewer shootings than we had last year. And six months into 2025,
02:07year five, I am confident that with half the year past us, in the midst of the summer, that we can
02:16actually improve on the numbers that we had last year, that we can actually get safer. As you can see
02:24on the graphics there, that's where we've been over the last several years in terms of shooting incidents.
02:31What you see is an historic drop in homicides. Homicides are down nearly one third from where they were at this
02:44point last year. Shooting incidents are down by 20% and shooting victims are down by 15%. And again, that's from
02:56the record lows of 2024. These numbers mean something profound. Lives have been saved and families have
03:07been spared the anguish and unforgettable grief of having a loved one shot. More Brooklyn residents are
03:20walking the streets with a sense of safety. And I know that is the priority for our police commissioner
03:25and for our mayor. And what's meaningful to me as Brooklyn district attorney is what the graph also shows
03:32is a persistent and ongoing trend of decline in this violence that we've seen year after year. We're
03:39determined to continue to build on that. Today's case will allow us to improve on the conditions in two of the
03:49neighborhoods that are typically the hardest hit in gun violence, which is the 75 precinct in East New York
03:56and the 73 precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn. So today we report tremendous success at the halfway mark.
04:05The credit goes to the New York City Police Department, to the hardworking women and men that work at the
04:11Brooklyn Prosecutor's Office, and to many of the community based organizations and violence
04:17interrupters who partner with the police department and with our office, doing a lot of work on the
04:23ground to reduce tensions, to deescalate conflicts, to provide services, and to offer ongoing support to
04:31our community members. This is a victory for everyone who cares about public safety. Gang takedowns, like the
04:39one we're announcing today, are an important part of this enforcement strategy in reducing crime.
04:48You know, unfortunately,
04:52we've seen after every one of these cases, crime is reduced. And so I say unfortunately, because I wish
05:01that we had success, uh, without the use of takedowns, but time after time, shootings drop immediately
05:09following a significant gang takedown. And then, and in this case, we've already started to take action
05:16against the shooters before the course of this long-term investigation. Uh, we've seen that shootings have
05:24been in fact reduced, uh, in places like Brownsville by a big margin so far this year. So I want to talk
05:34about this particular case now. Let's look at the, uh, the accused. These are the small number of men
05:42that were responsible for much of the shooting violence in East New York.
05:47There are nine defendants charged in this conspiracy. They call themselves R2R, Road to Riches.
05:57It's a young crew. You can see by their faces, these tend to be, uh, teenagers and older teenagers.
06:03Uh, they're based out of 398 Sheffield Avenue, which is, uh, properly in East New York, uh, part of the unity houses.
06:13Let's go to the next screen. Here's a map of part of the 75 and 73 precincts, East New York and Brownsville.
06:23I'll orient you to the green, uh, rectangle in the center where it says R2R. Uh, that is the home base, uh, 398
06:32Sheffield Avenue is in that area. And that is the home base for this young crew, uh, R2R.
06:40If you look towards Brownsville, you'll see territory Mark Wu and Cho, uh, to the north something called PPP.
06:51That's in East New York. And that's the pistol packing, uh, picking pistol packing crew. And on the bottom
06:59there's something called WAG. Um, another gang that's in the south part of East New York.
07:04When you look at the map, the one thing that, uh, you see is that R2R is surrounded by other crews and
07:14gangs that are hostile, uh, to them. And the one thing that stood out to me in the course of this
07:23investigation, looking at the number of shootings that took place in East New York over the past
07:28couple of years is that much of the violence is associated with different crews. Um, R2R,
07:37that gang seems to be fighting with everyone. So they're, they're in the middle of it. You can see
07:44PPP is only about a block or two away from them. That is their primary, uh, adversary at this moment.
07:52Uh, but again, they've been fighting with everyone. And so a number of these shootings,
07:57uh, during this investigation have pointed to this particular gang beef.
08:06When you look to, when you look at the consequences of this, what we're seeing during the course of the
08:14investigation, uh, and this was, this investigation is looking at a two year window. Uh, there are going
08:21to be 10 shootings that we have charged these nine men with, uh, one of them was a fatal homicide. So
08:34typically what we're seeing is really obscene violence, uh, violence, uh, in the middle of the day
08:42where other people walking the streets. Um, and that's the problem. I think with this,
08:50with this particular thing, many, many people are being jeopardized by the action of such a small
08:56number of, of young, uh, people. So I'm going to talk about the homicide first.
09:03The incident took, took place inside of Bodega, uh, where we allege that the defendant, uh, Mr. King
09:12Downing, who is the shooter in this case,
09:15Javante James and Quinn Parker, as well as other associates that were not part of this indictment
09:22from R2R were inside a Bodega, um, buying some stuff and basically hanging out.
09:30The video is going to show that at some point, and we allege that, uh, King Downing reaches into his
09:39waistband. After seeing, uh, two people that he identifies as potential rivals entering the Bodega,
09:48he pulls out a gun and shoots. Before the, before we play the video, um, what you're going to also see
09:58is that the victim was peering into the Bodega. He's looking, he's also waiting for someone to come
10:06and meet him there. That turned out to be his brother. Um, and they both peer into the Bodega before
10:13trying to enter it. Upon entering the Bodega, um, Mr. King, uh, King Downing, uh, shoots, uh, and, uh,
10:24a 24-year-old man, Mr. Ba, loses his life. He's shot in the face. Um, his brother is alleged to be
10:34involved with a rival gang of, uh, R2R. Um, and so you'll see that, you know, our belief is that the
10:45primary motivation in this case was gang violence. Um, let's watch the videos and you're going to also
10:53pay attention to how the victim and his brother, uh, were dressed that day. Let's play the video.
11:00All right. Mr. Downing is the person that's identified by the purple, uh, circle. He's there
11:07with his two cohorts. Actually, all of them are part of R2R. We blocked out the names of the,
11:13the faces of the unindicted, uh, co-conspirators. They're in the store shopping.
11:19You see, at this point, there's a, with a yellow circle, there's a gun in his hand,
11:34looking at the door, and the shots were, was fired. Here's the victim in the yellow, uh, circle.
11:43He's peering in, um, appearing, waiting to go in. He's met up with his brother in the bluish circle.
11:53And as they start to go in, the shot is fired, striking him in the face.
12:07That's the person, the shooter in the purple that runs out, stepping over his body.
12:30Can we play that one more time?
12:37What I want you to pay attention to is, at one moment, you'll see that all three look towards the door.
12:47They make eye contact. All three of them now staring at the door,
12:54seeing the men starting to walk in.
12:57And as, uh, as that's happening,
13:06we allege that right there, he pulls out his gun and fires before, uh, as they open the door to come in.
13:18The victim and his brother are both wearing hoodies and face coverings.
13:23And they seem to be cautious before entering the location. This may raise questions.
13:30But the fact is, um, when the police got there, uh, and I'm watching on the video,
13:35neither men were armed. The victim did not have a weapon. Uh, that's for sure. Um, and the brother,
13:42uh, we never lost sight of him on video and it does not appear that he ever had a weapon.
13:47When the police arrived, he's unarmed. This is part of the fact of life in places like East New York
13:54and Brownsville that many young men are very careful before entering locations. They're always masked up
14:03wearing hoodies, uh, because they're afraid that if they're identified by rival gang members,
14:09they will be shot on sight. That fear of young men in places like East New York and Brownsville leads to the
14:19violence in our communities. Uh, men are afraid to go from one part of the neighborhood to another,
14:25from one basketball court to another, from one housing development to another. Um, and it causes men
14:32who are fearful of their lives to be armed. And that makes us all unsafe. Shortly after the murder,
14:43the members of this crew R2R posted this photo on Instagram. Uh, you see the photo to your right.
14:50It's a social media post. The alleged shooter Downing is in this photo. So are the, some of the other
14:56members that were inside the bodega that day, Javonte, Jamie, and some of the other men that were in there.
15:02Um, the top line here, and I know it's not very easy to see, but the top line is an admission.
15:13It says, your homie died, them shots on us. And then it says, you know, a bunch of things.
15:23Free 98 stands for their home base through 98 Sheffield 98ers basketball team is a reference to
15:30shooters on social media. There's always a lot of reference to basketball emojis because they're
15:36shooters. Um, now typically when someone commits a homicide or a murder, they don't want to be
15:44identified as the person who did it. But in this gang violence arena, people need to take credit,
15:51uh, for the shooting of rival gang members. And this is what you see here. This stuff here,
15:57social media, um, has allowed gangs to antagonize challenge and stir up violence with their rivals.
16:05Um, it is one of the biggest threats to public safety because as these shootings take place and
16:12people are antagonized, ordinary New Yorkers, um, can be caught in the cross of, of this, this rivalry.
16:20Um, in this particular investigation, the range of victims range from as young as 14. Mr.
16:27Bob was 24. Um, and you're going to learn that a 68 year old woman was also struck by bullets.
16:36There are a couple of other, uh, Instagram posts. I'm going to go through them quickly,
16:40uh, because it just emphasizes the point that they want to stir it up on social media. Social
16:45media is used to antagonize and fuel the violence in our city. Uh, the left one is from, uh,
16:53Javante Jamie's account. The right one is from Quinn Parker's account. Both are references to smoking
17:00on bar. The victim in this case, uh, smoking on someone is a sign of disrespect. It's also a play on words.
17:07Um, if you look at the post that says, pass the bar, we smoked that. It's also a play on words that,
17:15you know, old fashioned, you smoke someone means to kill them. They're taking credit for the shootings.
17:21They want everyone to know that they're the ones who did this. Uh, the social media continues to
17:27perpetuate violence, uh, disrespect of the deceased and their op, you know, and you know, continuing to
17:35the cycle of opposition, uh, inviting revenge and fueling a senseless gang war because that's
17:44what this is. It's a senseless, dangerous gang war. All right, let's move on to the next clip.
17:49Uh, the first clip shows, uh, person, Mr. Ortiz that, uh, it's being charged in this indictment.
17:58And as the Anthony Ortiz, he comes down, there are a bunch of young ladies in the hallway of the
18:04building. He's angry. We allege because he thinks that they've been hanging out with opposition gang
18:11members. Uh, he's already had a, a physical alteration with some other woman about the same
18:19thing and he leaves. Let's, let's play the video that's Mr. Ortiz.
18:34They're showing some clothing articles because shortly after this assault,
18:41uh, hours later, he's going to be back at that building. Um, he's tracked
18:49here, um, to Brownsville to outside Van Dyke houses in Brownsville. And what you saw there
18:57is he shoot him and some of his co-conspirators, uh, were shooting at the yellow circle. Let's play it
19:03again. You see the replay. The intended targets are there in the yellow. There are two men.
19:11Um, they're spinning the block, looking to shoot rivals. They've ventured from East New York into
19:17Brownsville. You'll see him come up to the corner. Obviously, you can see a woman in an umbrella in
19:25one place, people in the street, cars in the street, and he just starts to shoot. He shot multiple
19:30times. We, we allege four or five times, uh, he shot towards the yellow circle. Uh, you can actually
19:39see in the foreground that, uh, men are running away. Unfortunately, also there was a 68-year-old woman
19:47and her husband. They were, uh, going food shopping and she was struck in the back by the bullet.
19:54Thankfully, she's, uh, recovering and is going to be okay.
19:58It's not shocking that the victim, uh, in this case was hit because they're shooting in broad daylight,
20:06um, shooting across great distances. It's very likely that they're going to miss, uh, the intended
20:12target and hit someone else. And this kind of indiscriminate gun violence is what makes, uh,
20:19people in Brooklyn afraid. And, uh, this is why this indictment is so important. And we should also
20:25indicate that these are cases that typically are getting solved without, uh, victims coming forward.
20:31This is done through the painstaking work that the detectives in the case and in this particular case,
20:37um, and the prosecutors did to pull this video out, um, and to go back and look at hours and hours of
20:45video across that part of Brooklyn to be able to identify the shooters. The next shooting we'll see
20:53is another example of gang members traveling again to rival territory to find someone to shoot.
20:58Uh, we call that spinning. Uh, this one was in PPP territory. Uh, you'll see this video,
21:07there's three, uh, members of R2R, the guy that's apparent to the video right now standing, uh, to the
21:14left of the tree. Uh, he identifies, uh, two rival gang members or people he thinks are rivals and he
21:24alerts his friends. So let's play the video.
21:28You see someone, he's going back. Now you can see him, he's signaling his friends to come.
21:36Realize that the shooter in this case is Samuel Gator.
21:39And you can see, if you look carefully, you can see the gun in the waistband. He has his hand on it.
21:49He starts to run. The gun is visible now. It's in the blue circle.
21:54And he starts to shoot. Shot multiple times. Happens quickly.
22:00Um, what you'll see is two men sitting on a bench in the back. It's in the yellow circle.
22:06They see the guy coming. They realize they're masked up and they have a gun. They start to run.
22:11Um, and the shots are fired. One of them is struck and we charged attempted murder in that case.
22:25Again, in broad daylight. And if you can see, there are other people scrambling to get out of
22:30the harm's way. This behavior is unacceptable. No one, no one should have to live with the fear of
22:38bullets whizzing by them. Um, and the last video I want to show you is from a few months ago.
22:43You're going to see a young man named McKeem Echevia. And he's leaving a housing development.
22:49Uh, that's in wool territory. He's there to visit, we allege, family members that live in that building.
22:55Uh, but he notices a rival and he starts to chase him. Um, I think what's interesting is
23:04and disturbing is that as he starts to chase the rival and start shooting again in broad daylight as
23:10other people around, he's skipping and jumping like he's enjoying himself. Let's watch the video.
23:16Okay. Those are the men leaving the building. He's with a another person. The guy who's highlighted is our shooter.
23:32He pulls out his gun. He starts creeping after the person that he's identified. And now the chase is on.
23:40He's chasing him. And if you look to the top left corner, you're going to see, you're going to see
23:46the victim running, the intended victim running. The blue circle is our shooter. He's chasing him. Look at
23:53him jumping and dancing as he's shooting at the intended target. It's really crazy.
24:03You see cars are coming. He's shooting right in the direction of cars coming.
24:07We're going to get another video of an Uber who's coming down the block. We just saw his car.
24:12And you can see the angle from the Uber. Look to your left hand corner. You're going to see
24:17right there at the stop sign, you're going to see the intended target running. He wasn't struck by the
24:22way. He's running. And I look at the guy chasing him. Again, multiple shots were fired in this case.
24:34What you see now is the Uber. If you see the windshield, the windshield has a bullet hole.
24:46And if you look very carefully into the passenger side, you're going to see a bullet hole that entered
24:55the car and hit the passenger side headrest, the front headrest. What you don't see and what is crazy
25:04is that there were three passengers in that car besides the driver. There was a man and his two
25:10young daughters sitting in the back seat. But for the grace of God, that bullet hits the passenger
25:16headrest and does not injure any of the passengers or the driver of that Uber.
25:26So those are the videos that I intend to show.
25:29Um, I will say this, this investigation, uh, because we wanted to get a number of these young
25:37men off the street before the summer has, you know, kicked off. We know that violence rises
25:43during the summer historically in New York city and in Brooklyn. And we thought it was important
25:47to take these shooters off. We're continuing to investigate a number of the other shootings
25:52that have been implicated by this investigation. I think we're going to see additional charges and
25:58more cases against a lot of these young men involved in this crew, uh, East New York is,
26:04you know, important to us in Brooklyn. It has always historically been either number one or number
26:10two in the city in terms of, uh, gun violence and making sure that the residents of East New York
26:16are safe is my highest priority as DA. Um, and so we want to make sure that this young crew,
26:23uh, is taken off the street, not to hurt anyone else. You know,
26:27it's a dangerous crew. Um, I take no satisfaction in arresting teenagers and young people,
26:34but this crew, they're rash, they're rash, they're impulsive and they're obsessed with guns.
26:42Um, they don't care who's around when they open fire. Um, and the fact that we were able to get them off the
26:50streets during this, still the early part of this summer means that, uh, we will slow the criminal
26:55activity of the R2R gang. I think that this takedown will further reduce violence in East New York and
27:01Brownsville. It will continue to allow us to lead the city in ways that improve public safety. Um,
27:07and that's why we went ahead and made the arrest, but I don't want anyone to think that this is the
27:12only action that's going to be coming out of this case. Um, we're continued to
27:20investigate these cases. We go back and solve these old cases because I understand having grown
27:26up myself in East New York that unless there is action that holds these young men accountable for
27:31these shootings, the streets will retaliate. Um, in order to have safety, we have to make sure that these
27:37cases are solved and I want to thank the New York City Police Department once again for helping us,
27:41uh, get this, uh, to this point today. Uh, earlier today, I sent a letter, uh, to community members in
27:51East New York and Brownsville explaining the investigation and the actions we took today.
27:56Um, and to continue to allow, um, them to know that there is other options for young people,
28:03uh, beyond being involved in gang activity. Um, and so we want to make sure that just because we
28:11remove these young people that new young people don't enter the role of shooters of gangs. And so,
28:17uh, the mayor and this, uh, the city council have, uh, agreed to help sponsor a gang and gun violence
28:26prevention program in the Brownsville, East New York area, uh, starting soon. And I put it out there
28:33to any of the young members who are watching this, uh, take down video today that we're willing to offer
28:39services. We're willing to meet you halfway if you lay down your guns. Um, the strategy has been working
28:45very well so far. We focus on the violent offenders. We invest in technology so that we can build these
28:52cases. We engage with community members to become part of the solution and that I hope that Brooklyn will
29:00become safer than it's ever been. You know, the mayor and I were talking briefly before the presser
29:06that, you know, the city is so much safer than it was, um, when we first started our careers, uh, in the
29:13nineties or two thousands. In fact, it's so much safer that it's hard to imagine, but we still have so much
29:20more work to do, uh, knowing, uh, and speaking to families that have lost loved ones to, uh, gun violence.
29:33The stats do not speak to the anguish. The, uh, the stats do not speak to the loss of the sense of
29:41safety of the community members. Um, so I really want to double down and say that, uh, over the last
29:49several years, we've prevented hundreds of shootings through these gang takedowns. And I
29:55want to specifically, uh, acknowledge the gun violence suppression division of the NYPD.
29:59Uh, so thank you, uh, again to all the detectives and the investigators, um, prosecutors and analysts
30:06who worked on these cases. This case will make a big difference. We're going to hear from our mayor,
30:11uh, first and then our police commissioner, and then, uh, they've agreed to take on topic questions.
30:21Thanks so much, uh, district attorney Gonzalez and your amazing team. The, uh, product that you have
30:28produced here in Brooklyn is going to be duplicated throughout the entire city. And we sat down, uh,
30:36earlier this year to talk about some of the work that you're doing. And this is the fruits of your labor,
30:42uh, your, uh, ability to take down road to riches is going to ensure that the avenues of East New York
30:50are safer. When you think about Livonia Avenue, Pickett Avenue, Sutter Avenue, uh, anyone that is associated
30:57with law enforcement know the history of the 75 precinct. 75th precinct has always been known as a place
31:04with hardworking New Yorkers attempt to raise their children and families, but we had a numerical
31:10minority number of people who participated in illegal behavior and many of them are repeated offenders.
31:16And, uh, as the police commission has often talked about the raise the age, uh, law that was passed
31:23as well as bail reform, as well as discovery, all of the laws that take place in the sterilized
31:29environment of our legislative chambers have really impact the ability to have the public safety that
31:35the people of the city deserve and desire. And there are many roads and rivers, as I would say,
31:40that feeds the sea of violence. And this office here in Brooklyn has attempted to dam each river,
31:48with their project restore that we were able to fund an innovative way of not only prosecuting cases,
31:56but giving gang members a way out of allowing them the opportunity to turn their lives around. And
32:02when you hear about the individual stories of those gang members that find a way to go back and help
32:08their first fellow members who are now still in gangs, this is the type of prosecutorial, prosecutorial
32:16responsibility that is needed all over the city. And we cannot thank you enough, DA, for what you are
32:22doing on both in both proactive and reactive because we have to intervention and prevention is the key
32:29to carry this out. But there are a number of other things that this case study of the takedown, I believe
32:36is clear. Number one, if you notice in many of the shootings, you're seeing individuals who are wearing
32:41masks, the failure to come up with clear legislation to turn back the mask law is a real problem.
32:50Hiding behind a mask allows individuals to have continuous levels of violence in our streets.
32:57And we are calling on the city council to pick up our bill because the state lawmakers refuse to act
33:03accordingly. The city council pick up our bill and it's time to remove these masks off our streets.
33:09The second that I think is important are the gangs, the failure to address the gang database.
33:17The commissioner has talked about it over and over again. It is a useful, powerful tool to prevent
33:24the reoccurrence violence that we're seeing with gang members. Identifying them early can attempt
33:31to allow us to stop the retaliatory shootings. Those retaliatory shootings are major problems
33:37that we are seeing in the city. And I'm sure if we do an analysis of those who were involved, many of them probably have
33:44either open cases or cases from the past. The revolving door criminal justice system of a small number of
33:52repeated offenders is having a major impact on the safety of our city. And what makes it remarkable
34:00of what this office has done of breaking historical lows and violence is that they have carried this out
34:08with all of the impediments that you are seeing, those who are making these decisions outside the span of
34:16the control of the law enforcement community. And in spite of all of that, we're seeing record numbers
34:21of decreasing shootings, record numbers of decreasing homicides, record numbers of the seven major crime
34:27categories in the city continue to decrease and go down. What we could do if we will only have partners in the
34:34other parts of the criminal justice apparatus. We will be able to not only make this the safest big city
34:41in America, we will make it the safest city in America. And so my plea today is that we need help.
34:48We need help from our state and city lawmakers and our federal lawmakers, because none of the guns you see
34:55laid out here on the table, none of them were manufactured in the state of New York. We need to stop the flow.
35:03We need stronger federal laws to deal with the flow of guns. We need our criminal justice partners to make
35:11the right decision on every level of those who are committing repeated violence. And we need our lawmakers
35:17to make sure the laws that they have passed does not collide with the job that we're trying to do. The
35:23idealism can't collide with the realism of public safety. New Yorkers must be safe. It's a prerequisite to our
35:30prosperity. It is my North star. I have never moved away from the importance of this city being saved from the
35:37days of being a police officer to nine to now. These nine gang members is really not only an indictment on their
35:46action, but it's an indictment on our city. Younger and younger people are becoming victims of crimes and
35:54participating in crime. And what this district attorney office is doing is looking at both pathways.
36:03What he has done with project restore must be a model across the city and what he is doing today of telling
36:13those who are not going to restore their lives. They're going to have to deal with the criminal justice system
36:18and his prosecutorial powers is the model we must all duplicate. So I thank you and I thank all those
36:24who are involved. I thank your office. I thank the gun suppression unit and I thank the police
36:30commissioner for our commitment and dedication of focusing on those hot spots so that we can identify
36:37the problems we're having and the deputy mayor of public safety for his role in this. And I could not
36:43help to look to the left of you. They're off the camera, but those three young men, they're probably
36:48interns that's here in your office. That is who we're fighting for. That is our future. And the
36:56opportunities of allowing them to be interns here, to be here in this press conference and watch you and I
37:01as leaders in this city. It is something that's going to inspire them. They can be part of the gang of safety
37:08and not the gang of violence. And so again, I want to thank you for what you're doing in this office.
37:15I want to bring up police commissioner Jessica Tish. Thank you, sir.
37:21Okay. Good morning, everyone. Today we are announcing the takedown of nine violent gang members
37:31associated with the group calling themselves Road to Riches or R2R. As of now, seven of
37:38those individuals are in custody and to remain outstanding with our warrants section on the case.
37:45These gang members are responsible for at least 10 separate shootings across East New York and
37:51Brownsville, including one homicide and a particularly egregious case where a 68 year old woman, an unintended
38:02target was shot in the back while walking home with her husband in the middle of the afternoon. What
38:09makes this case even more disturbing is not just the violence, but the casual and brazen way that it was
38:16carried out in broad daylight, near schools, across busy New York City streets with no regard for who else
38:25might be caught in the crossfire. Every single subject charge in the case has been involved in a shooting.
38:33Three of them have allegedly pulled the trigger on multiple occasions, and all of them have histories with firearms.
38:42And it's worth saying this isn't an isolated case. So far this year, the NYPD's Detective Bureau has conducted more than 40 such
38:50gang related takedowns, dismantling crews like Trenda Aragua, Los Diablos, Nine Rack, Third Side,
38:58and the 18th Street Gang. And today we add R2R to that list. These takedowns have resulted in over 300 arrests
39:07and the recovery of over 230 illegal guns. That builds on the more than 2,600 guns we've taken off the streets
39:18this year, and the more than 22,300 since our Public Safety Mayor, Mayor Eric Adams' administration began.
39:28This is the kind of proactive, targeted policing that continues to drive crime down to record lows,
39:35and it is working. We just closed out the first half of 2025 with the fewest shooting victims ever
39:43recorded in New York City in the first six months of the year. Hooray. And we tied the all-time low for
39:53total number of shooting incidents. But as the Brooklyn DA said, 2024 had been the safest year on record
40:02for gun violence in the borough of Brooklyn. And so far, midway through 2025, we are 20% below
40:132024's shooting levels in Brooklyn. That's unbelievable.
40:21That is the result of great, strong collaboration between the NYPD and the DA's office, smart strategy,
40:29relentless investigations, and precise enforcement, especially against violent crews like R2R.
40:37Seven of the nine defendants in this indictment were involved in shootings,
40:41while under the age of 18. Three of them committed their first shooting at the age of 15. And the
40:48defendant charged with the murder in this case was just 16 years old at the time of his crime.
40:55This is part of an alarming trend that the mayor just spoke about. And we continue to watch closely
41:02after the enactment of the raise the age law. From 2018 until now, arrests of children under 18 with guns
41:11are up 136%. Confirmed shooters under the age of 18 are up 92%. And young victims are up 81%.
41:25Those numbers speak for themselves, and they point to a system where accountability has been weakened
41:32by this change in the law, and gangs have adapted by targeting younger recruits.
41:38But let's be clear. While we will always advocate for smart reform, we also need real consequences
41:46when young people pick up guns and use them. Because the moment someone pulls a trigger,
41:52age is no longer the most important factor in the conversation. The gun is. And of course,
41:59detectives in this case were aided by our criminal group database to understand rivalries and affiliations.
42:06That kind of intelligence is what sharpens our casework and helps drive precise policing.
42:13And it is yet another reason why we need the City Council to stop legislating against us.
42:21Finally, I want to thank Detective Brian McGurn, who led this case. And I also want to acknowledge
42:27Deputy Inspector Craig Edelman and the entire team at our gun violence suppression division.
42:33Nine takedowns this year alone is no small feat. And of course, our good DA Eric Gonzalez and his
42:41violent criminal enterprise bureau for being exactly the kind of partner that we need to keep driving gun
42:48violence down. Finally, to the people of East New York, we know what you've been dealing with.
42:55Through each takedown, we are making your streets safer. And I promise you,
42:59we are not letting up, not under this administration. Because Mayor Adams has made it clear that public
43:06safety is his number one priority. When the critics called to cut funding, Mayor Adams chose to cut crime.
43:15When the pressure came to back down, Mayor Adams chose to double down. And when others tried to make
43:23headlines, Mayor Adams was on the front lines. Thank you all so much.
43:33All right, a few things. I'm going to take a couple of questions. Oren, if you can just show
43:39a couple of clips. I said that these young men were gun obsessed. We see some of the guns on the table.
43:43These are young men playing with assault weapons.
43:53This is on their social media, fueling the violence and the fear.
43:59It's a gun with an extended clip. And this is just some of the examples on the social media.
44:09As we enter the 4th of July, I want to encourage all New Yorkers to be very safe with the fireworks.
44:16And again, I want to thank everyone for coming today. We're going to take a couple of questions. I did
44:21want to point out that the murder weapon in this particular case was in fact recovered during a
44:29subsequent search warrant from another member of R2R's home.
44:33And again, very smart detective work led us to a tip where we could recover this gun in during a search
44:53warrant of another R2R member. So the work continues. This is a very strong case. You obviously saw the video
44:59evidence. The murder weapon has in fact been recovered and we're committed to giving justice
45:08to Mr. Ba's family. And as the mayor and the police commissioner said to all the residents
45:14of Brownsville in East New York, we're going to continue to reduce the shooting violence in our
45:20communities. So yes, there was questions. All right, I'll let you deal with the questions.
45:26All of them. They range from 15 to 20 years old. Yes.
45:47Okay. And do you think that that has anything to do with the race the age law and then how do you feel
45:54about potentially reexamining that? Yeah. So the the raise the age law, as the mayor said,
46:01was done with the best of intentions, trying to treat young teenagers as children,
46:10understanding that there's a lot of impulsivity and a lack of control and wanting not to create lifelong
46:19barriers in their future. It does not necessarily make sense to any New Yorker that I speak to that
46:27that should also protect them from accountability on gun violence. And so that's an area where we have
46:34to continue to go back. Uh, the DA's have spoken that we want the legislature to take a look, um,
46:42at raise the age, very specifically as it relates to, uh, gun violence. Yes, since the DA and the police
46:49commissioner and the mayor all brought up the idea of retaliation, what is the risk level right now?
46:56If these folks allegedly bragged about the shootings, bragged about the murder, isn't it gang code now
47:04for whatever surrounding gangs are, regardless of whatever intervention you're offering,
47:10they've got to respond. Well, they're going to see there are tremendous consequences to these young
47:15men. Many of them have already been arraigned. They're continuing to be arraigned. The commissioner
47:19said two are on the run. Uh, we're confident, uh, we're going to apprehend them. Uh, so far,
47:25the judges have set, uh, you know, high level bail and on the homicide have remanded defendants. So
47:32they're going to see that there are consequences to this. We're going to offer them services. Uh,
47:37project restore is about trying to get to young gang members that have not pulled the trigger yet,
47:43who have not crossed the line yet, who are not indicted to offer them a way out of the gang and to
47:49let them lead productive lives. And we're going to offer those services. We've reached out to community
47:54leaders and violence interrupters. We'll start to have the conversations with the young men from
47:58R2R and the rival gangs, but the retaliation has already been happening, right? This is what
48:05there are at least 30 shootings that we think are in this two year span that we looked at in the East
48:10New York area. We think most of them are related to gang violence. Uh, there are very few, thank God,
48:18but very few shootings related to robberies or those, you know, burglaries like we might have
48:22seen in the eighties or nineties. So much of the violence that's gang, uh, driven is simply about
48:29the retaliation and the fueling that social media. And I, I wish that social media would have filters
48:36that would not allow those kinds of videos, uh, to be played. Yes.
48:40Yeah, I mean, we continue to focus in on, uh, you know, illegal gun possession. The commissioner told
48:53you 2,600 guns so far have been taken off the streets, uh, just in two gun buybacks. My office
48:59did in one church in Brooklyn over the past year, which is 400 guns were voluntarily turned in. We know
49:05those guns are no longer available to commit crimes or be used as, uh, suicides. All of these things
49:11to get guns off the streets are important. Uh, we work with city, um, NYPD, but also federal partners
49:18on trafficking cases. And we have ongoing trafficking investigations right now throughout the borough where
49:24people are getting guns primarily from down south, um, and selling them illegally. And we're arresting
49:30those people. And typically they look at double digit sentences when they're convicted for selling
49:35guns illegally on the streets of Brooklyn. And it's all part of that strategy. Um, but as we've said
49:41over and over again, we need help from our federal partners in helping to restrict the flow of these
49:47guns into New York City. Yes?
49:50You've been, uh, talking about how you're going to be using technology to fight crime and public safety.
49:58Are you guys applying any of these technologies to gun acquisition or gang violence, like the VFR program,
50:08or anything like that? Well, we, we're talking very, I'm talking very specifically about the use of, uh,
50:16uh, enhanced technology to solve these cases. You know, what has happened, you know, there's a code of conduct,
50:24a code, a street code that says if you're involved in the life, if you're a fellow gang member and you're shot at,
50:32or you're shot, um, that you can't come forward and testify. And that, uh, code of conduct has meant that historically,
50:40a lot of these cases have not gotten resolved. Um, but over the last several years, working with the
50:46gun violence suppression division, what we've done in Brooklyn is something extraordinary is we've gone
50:52back and solved cases with no, uh, victim, uh, you know, involvement in the case. So the victims are not,
50:59uh, involved in the case. We proved the cases through medical records. We proved the tech,
51:05we proved the crime through the use of technology. And again, I've already said this, that typically,
51:11uh, people who commit murders don't want to be identified. Um, that is not true in the context
51:18of gang violence. They want to get credit for it. They literally have things online that say,
51:24we're up, you know, two shootings, um, over our rivals. They want to take credit for it. I mean,
51:32in the videos that you've seen, you saw that they basically said, your, your homie died. We did that.
51:39What do you, you know, basically, what are you going to do about it? So we're, we're going to solve
51:43these cases. A lot of the technology that we're talking about comes from getting information off
51:48metadata or from phones, from technology, from the cloud, forgetting things through legal means,
51:54working with judges, getting search warrants, but tracking cases and solving them in ways that
52:00we could not solve before because we had no eyewitnesses that would come forward. Yes.
52:04I'm wondering if you discussed some of the charges that these defendants are facing,
52:08are they fail eligible and are they eligible for this program that you talk about?
52:13No, so they're not eligible for the program. I want to be very clear that the program that the mayor
52:18has supported over the last several years and the city council has supported is a program to get
52:23people away from gang violence. It's not eligible. It's not an alternative to incarceration program.
52:32These men will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This is a program for young people
52:38who are not facing criminal charges and saying there's a way to get out of the gang. Our last
52:45participant group that graduated recently, there were 30 young men involved in that program, you know,
52:52about somewhere between six and eight of them are in college now. They're holding jobs. They've moved
52:59out of the neighborhood. They've gotten city resources. The mayor has been very generous with the use of
53:06services. We had to relocate someone because he had been shot at several times and we were able to relocate
53:11him. This is really a program to move people out of gang life. Unlike some of the other initiatives in the past,
53:22which was always like carrot and stick, which is if you don't participate, um, you know, we're going to
53:27come and arrest you. That doesn't exist because they're not facing charges. This is a voluntary
53:32program. Uh, it's been very successful, um, so far. Um, and as the mayor said, it really should be a model
53:38for the rest of the city. This is dealing with some of the most dangerous young men identified by our
53:44community members and by NYPD as most likely to be either victims or perpetrators of gun violence. And I want to be
53:52really clear because it's really less than half of 1% of our community would ever pick up a gun and use it
54:00unlawfully. So we know who they are. Um, the offer of services is, is critical. Um, because a lot of these men are
54:08completely detached from the society. As we understand it, they don't have jobs. Um, they don't
54:14have identification. They don't have bank accounts. Uh, they're really living separate and apart from our
54:20life. And so we have to bring them back into the fold, um, and provide the services that they need, um,
54:26to be law abiding and to be safe because the other part of this is, and I've mentioned this,
54:33but it's an important piece as they don't commit those shootings in the future. And if they're not
54:40victimized as victims in the future, we get a peace dividend, we get the dividend of peace. There's no
54:47retaliation from their cases. Yes. Um, thank you, sir. I just wanted to ask a couple questions.
54:53to clarify a couple things. So the 10 shootings that you're referencing, um, in regards to these
54:58nine, uh, men, um, took place between 2023 and 2025? Yes. Okay. Secondly, I just also want to clarify,
55:07so the new initiative, the new gun and take down initiative, can you clarify those details and
55:12apply the timeline, like when you get to see that begin? Well, the project restore, if you're talking,
55:19okay, so that's okay. No, project restore is a program to, uh, move people out of, uh, the violence.
55:26Okay. In terms of future takedowns, we're working on multiple cases right now, um, to, in other parts
55:34of Brooklyn to make sure that they can enjoy it. You know, what we see typically is after a takedown
55:41in any particular area, if it's at Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, um, Coney Island, right after the takedown,
55:49shooting violence drops typically between 30 and 40 percent sort of immediately because we've
55:54identified the right people who are pulling the trigger. Yes. Yes.
55:58Um, so this is a superseding indictment, but I think it's five. Yes. And Mr. Downing has been in for a couple of years. How many of these are new arrests for people who are actually taking off the street as opposed to go here to help you?
56:10It's five, five. Yeah, I think it's five. Um, and, and to explanation of the question is,
56:21I can't, and the police commissioner can't allow someone once we build probable cause to
56:27effectuate an arrest, um, to stay out on the street, especially on these shootings.
56:33So there are times that we will pick up a shooter, um, and charge him with the immediate shooting,
56:40but it doesn't have all of the other parts of the conspiracy, you know, all of the other gun
56:46possessions and everything. So when we supersede the indictment as a takedown, we're adding all of the
56:51additional evidence and additional charges. But in terms of public safety, we do not, and I want to
56:57be clear to New Yorkers, we do not leave shooters on the street waiting for a big takedown. As soon
57:03as we can build a sufficient case to get before a judge and get bail set, we're going to do that.
57:09And so that's what we did. We, we took these young men off the streets piece by piece. Um,
57:15and then today, the remainder, uh, offenders were put in custody actually yesterday and, uh,
57:21uh, facing their arraignments today. And so far, uh, bail has been set on all of them.
57:25They're on the run. They know they were looking for them. They're on the run. One was, um,
57:39had communicated through a parent that, uh, they would surrender. I don't know if it's happened yet.
57:44Thank you. All right. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, police commissioner and mayor. Thank you.
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