A Bronx man is facing more than 300 counts of gun-related charges after allegedly selling more than 70 weapons and high capacity magazines to an undercover New York Police Department officer, the Bronx District Attorney annunciato mercoledì.
Shakor Rodriguez is charged with a total of 304 conta, including the criminal sale and possession of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon, according to two indictments filed in the Bronx Supreme Court.
The 23-year-old was attending Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, while allegedly smuggling illegal weapons to the Bronx and Manhattan, according to the DA.
Rodriguez allegedly sold an undercover NYPD officer 73 armi da fuoco, 59 of which were loaded, e più di 40 high-capacity magazines, according to the district attorney, who noted the officer typically paid between $ 1,000 e $ 1,500 per gun.
Rodriguez was arraigned on both indictments and pleaded not guilty to 225 conta. His attorney did not have a comment on the case at this time.
“The defendant allegedly brought these semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines up from the south, sometimes transporting them in a duffle bag by bus. Dozens of the firearms were loaded and four are considered assault weapons. The NYPD worked diligently to intercept these deadly weapons before they hit our streets,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
“Bronxites are dying from gunfire and we cannot tolerate one more illegal gun in our community,” Ha detto Clark.
The district attorney’s announcement comes the same week New York Mayor Eric Adams annunciato il suo “Progetto per porre fine alla violenza armata,” as part of a city-wide effort to combat increased gun violence and violent crime.
Adams cited gun trafficking as a significant part of the problem, calling for both the state and federal government to raise the penalty for that crime.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called gun violence “a national crisis” mercoledì, saying there’s been an 80% increase in firearm homicides in New York state since 2019 e 75% of the guns used in those homicides came from out of state.
Hochul said New York’s new Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns will bring together authorities from nine states in the northeast to identify where illegal guns are originating, discover where they are headed and stop them from entering New York, Hochul said.
The NYPD Firearms Investigations Unit and the Bronx District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau conducted a joint investigation between July 2020 e dicembre 2021, which ultimately led to Rodriguez’s arrest, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Rodriguez is expected back in court January 31.
