Comissioner Orders More Manpower to Curb Violence

In response to a bloody weekend of gun violence that claimed the lives of seven people and left least 26 others wounded, the city police commissioner announced he would step up foot patrols in housing projects, increase plain clothes detectives in anti-crime units, add surveillance towers and monitor gang activity to curb retaliatory shooting, a police spokesman said.

The Warrant Squads in several precincts that had multiple shootings will be out in force over the weekend to snatch up anyone the find with outstanding warrants, said NYPD deputy commissioner of public information Paul J. Browne in a statement.

“Three of the victims who sustained non-fatal injuries were under the age of 16,” he noted.

Tayloni “Tutu” Mazyck, 11, was the first to be struck by the weekend’s hail of bullets.

Teenage suspect Kane Cooper, 17, unloaded his weapon near Gates and Throop avenues and sent a bullet into Tayloni’s neck as she waited for an aunt outside her Bedford-Stuyvesant home, cops said.

The injury left the victim paralyzed, her father told Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Ron Carr, a teacher at nearby P.S. 305, was stopping at a Sunoco gas station across the street after a tennis match on Friday night when he heard the shots.

“It was like a mini-cannon,” said Carr.

Sandra Rowell, an NYPD crossing guard at the Gates and Throop avenues intersection, said she’d helped Tayloni cross the intersection a few times.

Rowell said that the majority of the violence in the neighborhood stemmed from a conflict between tenants in 590 Gates Ave., the building next door to Tayloni’s, and another building on Marcus Garvey Boulevard a block away. She said shootings frequently break out at the intersection.

“That’s where all the mess is coming from,” she said, nodding over to 590 Gates Ave. “You just run.”

Over the next two days a 15-year-old girl was shot in her leg, a man shot at cops and wounded three civilians in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and a man, 28, was gunned down in a brazen midday shooting in East Harlem.

By the end of it all, six people died and 25 were wounded, according to the Daily News.

The weekend’s final victim, Damien Powell, 25, died when he was shot near Crown Heights’ Albany Houses, 1414 Bergen St., cops said.

Powell was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests had been made by Monday morning, police said.

Friday

* Kelly Mullins, of South Ozone Park, was found fatally shot several times in the head and stomach inside his vehicle about 6:50 a.m. at 106-36 159th St., police said.
* Tayloni “Tutu” Mazyck, 11, was shot near Gates and Throop avenues, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, relatives and police said. She was taken to Kings County Hospital. Kane Cooper, 17, was arrested nearby.
* Terrence Davis, 24, was shot about 10:48 p.m. on West Burnside Avenue, in Morris Heights, police said. He was rushed to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Cops made no immediate arrests.
* Antonio Wilson, 23, took a bullet to his right armpit about 11:53 p.m. near Myrtle and Grand avenues, in Clinton Hill, police said. Wilson was taken to Brooklyn Hospital where he was pronounced dead. There were no immediate arrests.

Saturday

* Damion Riley, 29, and a 37-year-old man were shot about 1:19 a.m. near 560 E. 48th St., in East Flatbush, police said. Both were taken to Kings County Hospital. Riley, who was shot in his arm and chest, was pronounced dead. The other victim was shot in the knee and listed in stable condition. No one was immediately arrested.
* Raheem Simon, 23, shot a 15-year-old girl’s leg about 10:39 p.m. near Kelly Street and Westchester Avenue, in Hunts Point, police said. She was rushed to Lincoln Hospital and listed as stable. Simon remained at large Monday afternoon.

Sunday

* Ivan “Born” Martinez, 21, was shot in the head about 3:25 a.m. near East 139th Street and Brook Avenue, in Mott Haven, police said. He was taken to Lincoln Hospital and pronounced dead. No one was immediately arrested.
* Luciano Cajigas, 28, was shot multiple times about 1:24 p.m. near 435 E. 105th St., in East Harlem, cops said. He was rushed to Metropolitan Hospital and pronounced dead. No one was immediately arrested.
* Kevon Brown, 30, opened fire on two men about 3:24 p.m. on Lenox Road, near Flatbush Avenue, in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, cops said. One was hit in his torso, the other was hit in his torso and leg. As Brown fled the scene, police said he shot another man’s neck. All the injured were taken to Kings County Hospital. The second victim was in critical condition while the two others were stable. Brown remained at large Monday afternoon.
* Damien Powell, 25, was shot near 1414 Bergen St., in Crown Heights, about 5:18 p.m. and rushed to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead, cops said. No one was immediately arrested.

The deputy police commissioner pointed out that despite the bloodshed over the weekend, crime is still down in the city.

“Even after including the seven shooting deaths during the 72-hour period from Friday through Saturday, homicides are still down 24 percent year-to-date for a total of 127 through Sunday — or 40 fewer than the same period last year,” said Browne. He said the number of people shot this year has fallen nearly 30 percent since last year.