Second Murder in 9 Days for Norwood After 1 Killing in 2017

Second Murder in 9 Days for Norwood After 1 Killing in 2017
by David Greene

Police allow limited access to vehicles and pedestrians after the second killing in Norwood in less than two weeks.–Photo by David Greene

After going nearly a year without a single killing, homicide detectives at the 52nd Precinct are now investigating two that occurred within nine days of each other.

On Monday, May 7, police announced an arrest in the April 23 shooting death of Rommel Goode, 38, of Brooklyn, who was shot and killed inside an apartment at 3152 Hull Avenue. Police have charged Darick Johnson, 31, also of Brooklyn, with murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

Residents reported hearing a half dozen shots, one striking the windshield of this van parked on Perry Avenue and East 209 Street.–Photo by David Greene

At an April 26 meeting of the 52nd Precinct Community Council, Deputy Inspector Peter Fiorillo told residents that the killing was a dispute between an ex-boyfriend and a cousin. At the time, Fiorillo told the crowd, “The hunts on. We’re still looking for him, we haven’t arrested him yet.”

Downplaying the rising numbers, Fiorillo told the audience, “You look at our numbers, you look at our statistics, it looks like we’re up in crime. Is it really that bad? Its concerning you know, but a lot of what I’m seeing is, especially this year, we’re seeing a lot of friend and acquaintance relationships between the victim and the bad person, which means I’m having people who are robbing, stabbing, stealing from people who they know.”

A blood-stained sidewalk outside of the Moronta’s Grocery where the unidentified victim collapsed.–Photo by David Greene

Fiorillo continued, “A lot of our crime is happening inside, our officers are not in your apartments.”

On Tuesday, May 1, crime would return to the street’s when Dwayne Saunders, 37, a Queens resident who was chased down East 209 Street at just after 11 a.m. and shot three times, before collapsing in front of Moronta’s Supermarket, at the corner of Hull Avenue.

One witness and longtime resident recalled, “Two men were arguing and one guy shot the other and he died. It happens around here.”

Residents continue daily routine despite crime scene tape restricting passage along East 209 Street.–Photo by David Greene

James, 31, was concerned with his own family members when he heard the gunfire, after his own cousin was shot on the block last year. James recalled, “The guy got shot up on Perry Avenue and he ran down here. I heard like four shots and he got shot three times.”

“He asked them to call paramedics,” James continued, “and he just dropped right here, you see the spot of blood right there,” pointing to the blood-stained sidewalk where the street dips for wheelchair access.

James added, “It was a bad thing, that’s why I tried to help him out. I didn’t know the guy, I never saw him before. I turned him on his side and applied pressure to his wounds and they were calling paramedics.”

Saunders died a short time later at Jacobi Hospital.

The NYPD would release photos of the two suspects, Tanisha Banks and Tyrone Frank as well as their getaway vehicle, a black 2015 Honda Civic.

Police in the 52nd Precinct reported just one homicide in all of 2017, when Michael Vermong was shot and killed on March 29, at the intersection of East 204 Street and Bainbridge Avenue. A friend of Vermong was charged in that crime.

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