Dozen alleged gang members arrested, weapons seized in Queens
KEW GARDENS, Queens (WABC) -- Police say they busted a dozen violent gang members responsible for a variety of crimes on the streets of Queens.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the gang takedown on Thursday morning alongside NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams.
Prosecutors said they would shoot at rival gang members indiscriminately throughout southeast Queens, putting innocent residents in danger at any time and any place.
The 33-count indictment announced Thursday morning is the result of a yearlong investigation.
The charges include attempted murder, weapons possession and conspiracy.
The suspects range in age from 18 to 26 years old and prosecutors say they operated in Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, Queens Village and the Baisley Park Houses.
Nearly two dozen illegal guns were seized, including a handgun converted to a semi-automatic weapons.
"If you carry a gun, if you shoot at people on our streets, if you treat neighborhoods like war zones, we will work tirelessly to take you off the streets," Tisch said.
Prosecutors say surveillance video of one shooting on Mother's Day shows a gang member shooting at a rival while standing next to his grandmother in a wheelchair.
"To some extent, the system works, as one gang is formed to fill the vacuum that is left by other gangs that are now doing jail time for their activities, we'll now go after the ones that are formed as a result of it," Katz said.
Four of the alleged gang members were already in police custody and the other eight were arrested on Aug. 28.
Katz says Labor Day weekend was quiet in terms of gun violence and there is a direct correlation to the gang takedown.
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