Police at the 90th St – Elmhurst Av Station yesterday after a shooting incident. (via Citizen)
Feb. 4, 2019 By Nathaly Pesantez
A suspect is now in police custody after yesterday’s deadly broad daylight shooting at the 90 St – Elmhurst Av station, with authorities believing that the shooter and victim in the horrific incident are connected to the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs, respectively.
Ramiro Gutierrez, 26, was arrested earlier today according to police, less than 24 hours after the midday incident at the Manhattan-bound 7 train platform that saw a 20-year-old man die after multiple shots were fired at him.
Gutierrez, who is believed to be the shooter, is facing charges of murder, gang assault and criminal possessions of a weapon.
The victim, identified as Abel Mosso, was found by police with a gunshot wound to the head, and pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.
Gutierrez has been known to police for some time, and appeared under the agency’s criminal group database as an MS-13 member, said Dermot Shea, NYPD Chief of Detectives at an earlier press briefing.
Mosso also appeared under the database as a member of the 18th Street gang, known for its rivalry with MS-13.
Shea, however, said it is still too early to determine what the cause of the fight and eventual shooting was.
“We don’t know if this was a chance encounter, if they knew each other, [or] if this is the third time they’ve have a fight this week,” he said. This is [a] preliminary investigation.”
The Chief of Detectives also spoke to the graphic, viral video posted on social media that showed the dispute and shooting unfold.
“Literally, the whole dispute and shooting incident was captured on video,” Shea said, noting that neither a gun nor shell casings were recovered from the platform. The lack of shell casings, however, may mean that the gun used was a revolver.
Dermot Shea, NYPD Chief of Detectives.
At least two people, including the alleged shooter, were engaged in a confrontation with the victim as the train headed to the 90th Street station, Shea said. The dispute turned physical and spilled onto the platform after the train entered the station.
Police believe Mosso was shot at between five to six times—about the same number of shots heard in the gruesome video.
“We believe he was struck multiple times in the face, causing his demise,” Shea said.
Witnesses also told police that some talk of MS-13 was mentioned aboard the train, though Shea noted that those statements needed to be vetted.
He added that police are still searching for a second suspect in the incident, who was part of the scuffle caught on video.
The Chief of Detectives said the Feb. 3 incident is unlike what authorities have seen with MS-13 before.
“We certainly have seen violence before with this gang, but nothing I would put into this category—this egregious, middle-of-the-day on a moving train…” Shea said, later adding, “This is an aberration.”
He stressed that despite the “troubling” incident, the transit system is overwhelmingly safe, with crime hitting record lows. He said the perception of crime going up in the subways may be caused by the way crimes reach the attention of the public today.
“You see crime today like you never have before,” Shea said, adding that incidents nowadays become viral within minutes after being captured on smartphones and other devices. But incidents like the daylight shooting, he said, and even the stabbing death of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman in the Bronx have happened before.
- Anyone with information on the incident should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-8477, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
