Brooklyn DA Gonzalez Releases Shocking Video Of Gangland Terror In Handful Of Neighborhoods
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- On the heels of a shocking rise in shootings last month, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has charged 21 alleged gang members with a reign of gun terror, murder and mayhem stemming from multiple shootings that left two dead and four injured.
And some of it was captured on a new video that shows a gun culture run amok, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Tuesday.
One of the alleged gunmen in the video, Zidon Clarke, gang name "Bones," reportedly thought he was firing at a rival gang member. It turns out he allegedly shot Rohan Levy, an innocent 15-year-old, in a case of mistaken identity.
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According to prosecutors, Khalil Irving is seen firing random warning shots at his neighbors, while Keemari Porter is allegedly seen doing the same thing at a door and suspect Travis Larok is seen sitting on a subway slowly putting bullets into his weapon.
All of it is part of a gangland reign of terror in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Canarsie that law enforcement officials said has been going on for years.
"Imagine the fear that you'd have sitting on the train seeing these young men loading guns," Gonzalez said.
Shockingly, Gonzalez said that the subway incident occurred just a few hours before the same man reportedly killed a rival gang member.
The videos were released as part of a massive indictment of 21 gang members feuding for years with the violent Bloods and Crips.
"This brazen and disturbing conduct must come to end," Gonzalez said.
Officials say the defendants range in age from 17 to 41.
"A group of young gang members who were ready, willing and able to use firearms to attack rival gang members and commit other violent crimes like robbery," Gonzalez said.
But while violence was an apparent way of life, officials said they didn't always know why.
"They have no historical knowledge of what started this feud in the first place," Gonzalez said. "They just know that they're expected to shoot at and attempt to kill rival opposition gang members. This is how pointless, this is how impersonal, this gang culture is."
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The gang takedown was part of a joint operation with the NYPD.
"This is at the core of what we do every day with precision policing," Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said. "We have zero tolerance for people that are going to carry illegal firearms on the streets of this city."
Officials said that the cases were harder to make because one of the many ploys the gang members used was dismantling the guns they carry because they can't be arrested for gun possession if the weapon is inoperable.
