Last night we told you about the murder of 56 year old Edward Robinson. He was killed on Saturday morning when a pair of gunmen went after Jamil Betancourt in the area of North Creek. Betancourt was only injured but Robinson was killed - collateral damage in a gang war. Well, police were quick to wrap up the investigation and announced this morning that two men had been charged. The interesting thing is that they are both form Supal Street - and so was their intended target, Jamil Betancourt. The lead investigator told us more this morning:
Insp. Alejandro Cowo, CIB Precinct 1 & 2
"So far police are conducting an investigation into the matter where several persons were interviewed and statements were recorded and as a result, 2 persons were detained yesterday. They are Ryan Alvarez and Devon Sankey, both of the Supal Street area. At present they are being charged and they will be taken to magistrate court sometime this afternoon. They will be charged for murder, conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder on Jamil Betancourt."
Jules Vasquez
"You said these gentlemen are of a Supal Street address. I know that Mr. Betancourt is also affiliated with Supal Street, has been for some time. Are you able to say if there were some rivalry in that area which lead to the shooting?"
Insp. Alejandro Cowo, CIB Precinct 1 & 2
"We understand that it's an internal problem that they are going through at this time. They have their little arguments among them which lead to this situation."
Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside
"Like Mr. Cowo said it's an internal thing between them. There was an argument the parties' just minutes before the shooting. One party left and then came back subsequent after with a firearm and just opened fire and Mr. Robinson was dead and Betancourt was injured."
So, it was a minor argument turned into the murder of the wrong man. And southside police feel that perhaps it could have been averted if they were more mobile. Here's the question we put to the commander today:..
Jules Vasquez
"Was the crime interdiction/crime suppression efforts were being compromise by the relentless rain over the weekend."
Sr. Supt Chester Williams - Commander, Eastern Division Southside
"I will say that our patrolling efforts were significantly compromise and the shootings, murder could be attributed to the fact that the police were not able to cover the various hotspots the way we would have wanted to and like you rightly mentioned that with the increment weather conditions the extent of which it was at, we were unable to do motorcycle patrols, because the motorcycles were highly inadequate for the weather conditions and even though we try as much as we could have to keep our foot patrols in the various hotspots - at a point in time we had to withdraw them due to the flood that was in the area that we were in and we found it to be very hazardous for them to be out there in that condition. So we withdrew them and on Sunday morning, we were given 3 vehicles by NEMO and we were able to put those vehicles in some of the hotspots. Again, to see how best we could contain the crime situations in those areas to prevent any retaliation as a result of the shootings that had occurred."
Email
Print