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COURIER L 20 IFE, AUGUST 21-27, 2020
DA debuts new
gun violence unit
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. File photo by Colin Mixson
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
In response to a rash of gun violence
throughout the borough this summer,
Brooklyn’s top prosecutor has opened
a dedicated unit to provide a “laserlike
focus” on combating shootings
and prosecuting gunmen.
“With the recent and worrisome
spike in gun violence, we must innovate
and strengthen our response
to all cases against those who carry
lethal weapons on our streets,” District
Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in
a statement on Aug. 19.
The new Gun Violence Suppression
Bureau, which will be led by veteran
Assistant District Attorney Patrick
O’Connor, will increase the offi ce’s resources
toward stemming the scourge
of violence, while coordinating law enforcement
efforts to effi ciently target
criminals most responsible for the increased
volume of shootings.
“The new Gun Violence Suppression
Bureau will provide a laser-like
focus of our resources and expertise
in targeting the small number of individuals
who are responsible for most
of the gun violence in our community,”
Gonzalez said.
Much of the new unit’s work will
be dedicated to rooting out more evidence
on gun cases, which often prove
hard to crack because many are based
solely on testimony from just one police
offi cer — and DNA evidence is
only recovered in about a third of the
cases, making it diffi cult to conclusively
prove that a fi rearm was used
by a specifi c suspect, according to a
law enforcement offi cial.
On top of solving shooting cases
after the fact, the new unit will work
with the Police Department to track
patterns and attempt to proactively
identify possible future shootings
and retaliations, according to the
DA’s offi ce.
The announcement of the new bureau’s
creation comes after a week
when grand juries reconvened on
Aug. 11 after months of hiatus due to
the pandemic, allowing Gonzalez’s offi
ce to indict some 36 suspects of violent
crimes.
That slate of defendants includes a
murder suspect who allegedly fatally
shot two people in East New York
on June 27 while disguising himself
with a long blonde wig and a surgical
mask, and a second-degree murder
suspect who allegedly killed one man
and shot another in a Brownsville bodega
on June 5.
The new unit is also fairly timely,
as the past weekend was particularly
bloody in Brooklyn — with six people
killed and more than 40 others hit by
gunfi re over the weekend.
While shootings are on the rise
across the Five Boroughs, Police
Commissioner Dermot Shea singled
out Brooklyn on Aug. 18 as the borough
most responsible for the increasing
numbers.
“Right now about half of the shootings
in New York City, close to, are
coming out of Brooklyn, and that’s
a big problem,” Commissioner Shea
told NY1 on Aug. 17. “When you dig a
little deeper and peel the onion back
you’re seeing Brooklyn individuals
and perpetrators with active gun
cases sometimes from Brooklyn committing
violence in other parts of the
city.”
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