E. 2nd St. shooting
A family dispute in an apartment at 225 E. Second St. around 9 a.m. Wed., Jan. 12, ended with gunfire and a 33-year-old man in critical but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital with a gunshot wound in the abdomen, police said.
The shooter, also male — identified in a New York Post item as the victim’s cousin — fled, police said. The victim, reportedly a construction worker, was visiting a female relative in the second-floor apartment between Avenues A and B when the shooting occurred, police said. Police are investigating and there were no arrests as of Tues., Jan. 18.
Woman thrown, mugged
Police are seeking public assistance in locating a man and a woman wanted in connection with a Sat., Jan. 8, mugging of a woman at 5:26 a.m. in front of 608 E. Ninth St. between Avenues A and B. The man grabbed the victim, 26, from behind, demanded her bag, threw her to the pavement and fled with the bag, police said. The mugger was described as a black man between ages 35 and 45, wearing a dark knit cap with white trim, a gray hooded jacket and a long coat with fur trim. His accomplice, described as a black woman, between ages 35 and 40, in a red or orange coat with a hood, a dark hat and carrying a purse, was acting as lookout, police said. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or make a report online at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text to CRIMES (274637) and enter TIPS577. All calls are confidential.
Found shot in fire
Firefighters found a man, 63, dead of a gunshot wound to the head in the bathroom of his fourth-floor apartment at 362 E. 10th St. on the afternoon of Wed., Jan. 12. The alarm came in at 2:49 p.m. and the fire, confined to the fourth floor, was under control by 3:56 p.m. according to the Fire Department. The blaze was under investigation but was believed to have started in the victim’s apartment. Police said a .32-caliber revolver was recovered in the bathroom where the victim, Mike Zecchino, was found. The victim, a resident of the apartment for 30 years, is believed to have committed suicide. He was said to be a hoarder whose disorderly apartment was crammed with various articles. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was investigating the cause of death.
Bistro bash
Four men who had a meal at Manatus, 340 Bleecker St., around 3:15 a.m. Thurs., Jan. 6, walked out without paying, police said. When the manager, 48, confronted them, they punched him, but police were called and arrested Kendell Cook, Darius Shepard, Dominique Allen, all 20 years old, and Lee Treashay, 21, and charged them with assault and larceny.
Wagon heel
Two patrons of Off The Wagon bar, at 109 MacDougal St., spotted a man taking the bag of a woman patron who was talking to her friend at 3:35 a.m. Sat., Jan. 15. They alerted the bouncer, who held Lisandro Amezquita, 23, for police, who charged him with larceny. The bag and its contents — a camera, credit cards, wallet and $8 cash — were found on the suspect and returned to the victim, police said.
Weapons arraignment
Jonathan Shaw, 57, an East Village tattoo artist, pleaded not guilty at his Jan. 11 State Supreme Court arraignment on charges of illegal possession of assault rifles, handguns, ammunition and knives found in his rented South St. storage locker. Shaw, son of famed big band leader Artie Shaw, was arrested Nov. 6, 2010, after an employee of a shipping company notified police about a cache of weapons in Shaw’s Manhattan Mini Storage locker at 220 South St.
Shaw has been free on $250,000 bond pending a March 22 court appearance on the 89-count indictment for unlicensed possession of weapons, including an assault rifle, a .30-caliber semiautomatic rifle, a 12-gauge pump-action pistol-grip shotgun, a British Army rifle, more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, five pairs of brass knuckles, and 68 illegal knives and daggers, including a bayonet.
Shaw was arranging to move the weapons to Los Angeles when he was arrested. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. referred to the Jan. 8 fatal shooting in Tucson, Ariz., at Shaw’s Jan. 11 arraignment.
“The events of the past weekend remind us that gun violence continues to plague our nation,” Vance said, pledging to prosecute illegal weapons owners and dealers and to get stockpiles of illegal guns off the streets.
Holiday-eves robber
Police arrested Enrique Cova, 43, Thurs., Jan. 6, and charged him with two robberies of the Bank of America branch on Bayard St. near Bowery, one on Christmas Eve and the other on New Year’s Eve. The suspect, who finished serving a seven-year prison term for robbery a year ago, walked into the bank at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, and passed a teller a note saying, “Give me 100 $100 bills or we will take hostages and move in.” He fled with an undetermined sum of cash, according to charges filed with D.A. Vance. The defendant returned to the same branch at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 and passed another note to a teller, but fled without anything, according to the charges. He is being held pending a Feb. 1 court appearance.
Fulton Houses rape
Police arrested Christopher Grant, 25, on Sat., Jan. 15, and charged him with raping a woman at gunpoint on Dec. 3, 2010, in the Fulton Houses on W. 17th St. at Ninth Ave. Police said the suspect encountered the victim, an acquaintance, in an elevator around 8:30 p.m., pulled a gun and said, “If you don’t come upstairs with me, I’m going to put two in your chest.” He forced her to the roof of the building, raped her and threatened to kill her if she reported the attack, police said. The suspect was arrested after an unrelated assault and also charged with rape in the Jan. 15 attack.
Take cash register
Two robbers walked into the Green Apple Grocery, on First Ave. near E. 12th St., around 1:30 a.m. Thurs., Jan. 13, punched and threatened an employee, 54, then shoved the cash register with more than $600 into a black plastic trash bag and fled, police said.
Wrangler gets rustled
A Bayonne, N.J., woman parked her 2010 Jeep Wrangler at the corner of West Broadway and Grand St. around 11 p.m. Sun., Jan. 16, while she went to a movie and had some supper, but when she returned a couple of hours later, discovered that it had been stolen, police said. Her bag — with an iPod, another cell phone and a ring and bracelet, with a total value of $1,900 — were in the car, police said. The victim’s E-ZPass showed it had been used around 8:30 p.m. the following day at the Queens Midtown Tunnel, police said.
Albert Amateau
