Video shows shooting outside NYC smoke shop that left 1 dead, 2 bystanders hurt
TREMONT, Bronx (WABC) -- Three people were shot, one fatally, when a pacing gunman suddenly opened fire on a smoke shop in the Bronx early Tuesday.
Police say the gunman fired multiple shots into the store on East Burnside Avenue in the Tremont section just before 1 a.m.
He then went inside and shot a 31-year-old man in the head and torso, according to authorities, and the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two other people, both 34 and both believed to be innocent bystanders, were also struck by gunfire. A man was shot in the arm and a woman in the torso.
ALSO READ | Fight at Garden State Plaza food court causes panic, evacuation
They were both rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where the woman is in critical condition and the man stable.
Edison Cruz, 25, was later taken into custody. He is charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police say it all started at a Taco Bell a few blocks away where Cruz works, where the victim and several others were smoking pot and being disorderly.
They were reportedly thrown out, came back, and were thrown out again, and Cruz allegedly then followed them to the smoke shop.
What happened next was caught on surveillance video, showing three people exiting the smoke shop, one with a bat in hand.
Raw video of Bronx shooting:
The man he's confronting, believed to be Cruz, then opens fire, blasting several rounds at the group and into the shop.
The gunman can then be seen entering the shop, where he fires more shots before casually walking away.
Neighbor Jolonda Richards said she's a friend of the female victim.
"Is this happening?" she said. "How do innocent people get shot? When is it going to stop?...She doesn't bother nobody, she doesn't do anything. So for innocent things to happen to people like that, it makes you worry about what's going on with the world."
Police said the murder weapon was a ghost gun that was recovered nearby at Tremont and East Jerome avenues.
Cruz was previously arrested for weapons possession, allegedly caught with a ghost gun, in May of 2021. Bronx prosecutors asked for $15,000 bail, but he was released on his own recognizance.
He also had two arrests in 2020, in August for allegedly throwing plate of food at his mother's face and threatening to kill her, and in June for allegedly walking down Andrews Avenue and 179th Street in the Bronx wearing a bullet proof vest and a grenade launcher strapped to his back.
A search of his Bronx apartment uncovered a shotgun, firearm receivers, drill bits, manufacturing tools, a firearm manufacturing template, a shotgun barrel and stock, a hatchet and Glock parts, police said.
ALSO READ | Met Gala returns as stars don bold shimmery gilded era looks
The shooting happened on the first night that police deployed additional overnight patrols to help stem gun crime.
"We designated an inspector in each borough, two in the Bronx, actually, as the summer violence coordinators to take all of these additional resources that we're pushing out there and manage them very quickly," NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said. "To be able to adapt to changing conditions on the ground and put the officers where they're most needed."
While murders are down 13% from this time last year, overall crime is up more than 42% -- including the number of shooting victims up more than 8%.
Assault up 21%, robberies more than 46%, and car thefts up close to 70%.
----------
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a News Tip
