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NY Daily News
David Flores, 36, (right) who was charged with attempted murder of Brooklyn Shomrim volunteers in September 2010 during a wild melee in Borough Park.

Shooter of 4 Shomrim Acquitted of Attempted Murder

A Brooklyn man who wounded four members of a Jewish patrol group was cleared of nearly all charges Wednesday by jurors who placed much of the blame for the 2010 mayhem on the Shomrim volunteers.

David Flores, 37 was acquitted of 15 charges, including attempted murder and assault, and convicted of only possessing a gun. He fired that weapon in a Borough Park street after his car was boxed in by locals, who were convinced he had just gratified himself in front of children.

“The Shomrim can’t decide if they’re going to be judge, jury and executioner in the middle of the street,” said juror Niccole Person of Bed-Stuy, after the verdict was handed down in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

“They’re not cops,” said another juror, Marco Wylie.

Prosecutors alleged during the five-week trial that the Shomrim were following Flores, believing he committed the same disgusting act a week earlier. Only when he pulled a gun did they jump him, the prosecution argued, leaving him badly bruised and with a self-inflicted gunshot to the arm.

Abe Kaztow, Abraham Brauner, Joel Klein and Motty Perl were all shot.

Flores’s lawyers claimed self-defense, describing an angry mob surrounding and banging on their client’s car and attempting to drag him outside.

“Call the police,” a groggy Flores told medics who treated him even though cops were at the scene at that point.

“Instead of calling the police, somebody made the mistake of calling the Shomrim,” defense lawyer Douglas Appel said.

Borough Park Shomrim coordinator Jacob Daskal said after the verdict, “Nobody did anything wrong. Nobody even touched him, just followed him – that’s the protocol.”

He added that he accepts the jury’s decision.

“It’s beyond comprehension,” said Assemblyman Dov Hikind. “Four unarmed people shot and hospitalized. How was this sick individual not found guilty? How could the DA possible lose this case? Now Flores is out and capable of creating more mayhem? This is our justice system upside down. It’s insane!”

The unarmed patrol volunteers act as the “eyes and ears of the police,” where many of the Orthodox Jewish locals often call them first in an emergency.

Flores is still facing between five to 15 years to prison when he’s sentenced next month. He already spent over three years locked up awaiting trial.

The defendant trembled as the forewoman repeatedly announced “not guilty” while his relatives wept in the gallery.

“It was so exciting, so beautiful,” said his mother Elia Miranda, 58. “I knew from the beginning he’s innocent.”

His brother Dennis Flores, 38, acknowledged that his sibling should not have carried a gun but added that “they probably could have lynched him” without it.

Jurors hugged Flores’s relieved relatives as they left court, and insisted they have no animus towards the Orthodox Jewish community or their local security groups.

“Community patrol is a wonderful thing,” Person said. “However, it doesn’t give them the right to do the job of the police.”

Another juror, Steve McAllister, 57, of Midwood, said that much of the police reports didn’t match witness testimony, leaving reasonable doubt in the panel’s minds even about the public lewdness charge that precipitated the incident.

“Odds are he may not have acted in self-defense but we didn’t have enough proof to convict him,” he said. “There’s a chance that people (in the Shomrim) got carried away.”

McAllister added that he sometimes comes across the local community patrol in his neighborhood and views them as a positive.

“It can show the Shomrim in a bad light,” he said of the verdict. “That’s the one thing I feel bad about.”

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11 Comments

  • Great

    It’s okay

    He will shoot again. Only this time it will be in the neighborhood where these jurors live. And they will see at that time the mistake they made.

  • corrupt system

    Look what we have, a murderer getting off charges and Rubashkin sitting in jail…….

  • Confused

    He was cleared of charges- but spent 3 years in prison and is facing another 5-15 years? For other charges?

    don’t mind, just confused :)

  • disturbing

    Liberal NYC say thanks once again To Charles Hynes Champion of Criminals everywhere! well Thank fully for Brooklyn residents he will in another month or so begin forced Retirement. But as #1 said let’s look at who were the Jurors?? In this sick city & country The white victims are to blame The criminals are poor misguided individuals mostly black & Hispanic who can’t help themselves being guided by role models who belong in a Jail cell or a early grave or at least a prison cell for real & serious crimes against this country & others

  • Revenge?

    Could be getting back, because of the acquital of George Zimmerman. Some of the reasoning of the Jurors sounds similar to the Jurors’ reasoning in the Zimmerman case