Bedford Park News: Shots ring out on St. Paddy’s Day

Bedford Park News: Shots ring out on St. Paddy’s Day: Shots ring out on St. Paddy’s Day By Aaron Carnegie BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 20-  At around 10 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day, four shots ...

Shots ring out on St. Paddy’s Day

Shots ring out on St. Paddy’s Day

By Aaron Carnegie

BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 20- At around 10 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day, four shots rang out in the vicinity of 100 Erdman Place.

At least one car was hit. It had a broken windshield and a broken side window on the driver’s side.

A witness on the scene said that police and Public Safety officers were looking for two men in connection with this crime. No injuries were reported.

#NYPD #St. Patrick’s Day #Shooting

Bedford Park News: Psycho Dad Fed Kids Poisoned Pizza

Bedford Park News: Psycho Dad Fed Kids Poisoned Pizza: Psycho Dad Fed Kids Poisoned Pizza Convicted of Poisoning Son, Drowning in Tub BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 20-    He laced his kids’ pi...

Psycho Dad Fed Kids Poisoned Pizza

Psycho Dad Fed Kids Poisoned Pizza

Convicted of Poisoning Son, Drowning in Tub

BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 20-  He laced his kids’ pizza with rat poison. For that, Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson announced that 49-year-old Leonardo Espinal will spend 20-to-life in prison.

Following a plea of guilty last month to murder in the second degree (Class A-1 Felony) and attempted murder in the second degree (Class B Felony), Espinal was sentenced by Supreme Court Justice Troy Webber to 20 years-to-life for the murder of his 5-year-old son Steward, and, concurrently, 15 years in prison plus another five years post-release supervision for the injury to his daughter Mia, who was 7-years-old at the time.

In November 2012, Espinal was having issues with his ex-wife, Rosaura Abreu, and she had kicked him out of the family apartment. When Espinal discovered Abreu was seeing another man, he carried out a callous revenge plan to poison their two children. Espinal penned a suicide note, and fed the poisoned pizza to the children, eating some as well. The little girl threw up from ingesting the rat poison; Steward soiled himself, and the father locked himself and the boy in the bathroom. Refusing to come out, Espinal's stepmother called 911 and police broke down the door to find the father dazed, but alive. The little boy was in the tub, dead from the combination of poison and being submerged in water.  

The children’s mother, Rosaura Abreu, submitted a victim impact statement to the Court: “Mi querido angelito…I will never forget the last time I saw my little son…he was radiant, happy, content, and followed me all around the house. When it was time for me to leave, he followed me to the door and I knelt down to talk with him. It’s as if my heart knew that it would be the last time I would see him alive…

Noting that the tragedy impelled mother and daughter to move, “Mia suffered anxiety attacks every time I would mention going back to that apartment where she lived with her little brother.  She never wanted to sleep in the same bed where she slept with her Steward, protecting him from monsters.

“Mia will have to live for the rest of her life with the horrific memory that her own father caused in attempting to kill her.  Although therapy helped the both of us, Mia and I suffer every day the absence of our boy in our daily lives. Mia suffers…when she goes to parties, when she goes to bed, when she plays with other children, when she sees photos of him, when she sees another boy the same age as him, when she sees me sad because she knows I am thinking of him.

“All we can do is take it day by day.”

#Pizza #Rat Poison #Dad #NYPD #BronxDA

Bedford Park News: Goodbye Montefiore, Hello Homeless?

Bedford Park News: Goodbye Montefiore, Hello Homeless?: Goodbye Montefiore, Hello Homeless? (Just what was this 'Coalition for the Homeless' van doing in front of a 'rent stabi...

Goodbye Montefiore, Hello Homeless?

Goodbye Montefiore, Hello Homeless?

(Just what was this 'Coalition for the Homeless' van doing in front of a 'rent stabilized' building in Riverdale? Pictured above is the van, and you can see the Whitehall in the background. The building is managed by Goodman Management, and calls to Goodman Management were answered with, 'Not in that building’.)

Riverdale Report

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 19- Two weeks ago, I mentioned that a Coalition For the Homeless van was spotted in Riverdale. That same Coalition For the Homeless van was spotted in front of one of the few remaining 'Rent Stabilized' buildings in Riverdale. 

The building is managed by Goodman Management, and calls to Goodman Management were answered with not in that building. With Goodman Management managing many buildings in Riverdale and Community Board 8, my next question was are there any homeless or transition housing in any of the buildings Goodman manages? The reply here was that Mr. Goodman would have to get back to you on that.

It seems that in rebuffing the Montefiore Medical Center project, the opposition may have just opened the site up to affordable housing by Stagg Developers. Stagg has just paid $7.1 million dollars for a property on Webster Avenue for a 200-plus unit building of so called market/affordable housing. I have been told that the asking price is only $7 million for the Montefiore Riverdale/Oxford Avenue site. By the way Mr. Stagg was the first of many developers to look at that site to possibly build market/affordable housing. With new zoning changes being proposed, other bonuses to developers, and new financing to meet the deBlasio 200,000 unit affordable housing edict this site is a bargain to Mr. Stagg.

Con Edison is having their underground transformers checked, as the recent spring thaw has melted all the snow and sent the residual salt melting at their equipment. On my blog is a photo of a transformer meltdown on a recent night. The FDNY came and roped off the area until Con Edison came the next day to fix the problem.

Lastly, we say good-bye to a great man who not many knew of, Mr. Lorance Hockert. Larry as those who knew him called him was a member of Community Board 8 from 1990 through 2003. Larry was also the boards chair from 1998 through 2000, and was crucial in the 197A plan developed by Community Board 8. One piece of little known information was that Lorance Hockert was going to be the next councilman after June Eisland was to be term limited out of office. However for reasons known to only a few people Larry never did commit to that, and retired from Community Board 8 the following term. Lorance 'Larry' Hockert will be missed by all.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.  

#Riverdale #Montefiore #Homeless #Bronxnews

Bedford Park News: Bloody Breakup

Bedford Park News: Bloody Breakup: Bloody Breakup Man convicted of slaughtering girlfriend and her mother BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 18- It was one of the more grues...