Three men have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a New York man who was killed while crossing a Bronx street with his 6-year-old daughter on July 5, authorities said Thursday.
Bronx residents Davon Delks, 21, and Devon Vines, 27, and Laquan Heyward, 25, of Staten Island, were arrested in connection with the death of Anthony Robinson, 29, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said in a statement.
Robinson, a father of three, was fatally shot in broad daylight in a drive-by shooting as he held hands with his daughter, Khloe, at Sheridan Avenue and East 170th Street. The incident was captured on surveillance footage released by the NYPD.
Earlier this morning, members of the Bronx Violent Felony Squad with the assistance of Bronx Warrants, 44 Pct Squad, the Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section, and TARU apprehended & arrested Davon Delks, Laquan Heyward, and Devon Vines for the Homicide of Anthony Robinson. pic.twitter.com/0sddj0OVZZ
— Chief Rodney Harrison (@NYPDDetectives) July 16, 2020
“Earlier this morning, members of the Bronx Violent Felony Squad with the assistance of Bronx Warrants, 44 Pct Squad, the Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section, and TARU apprehended & arrested Davon Delks, Laquan Heyward, and Devon Vines for the Homicide of Anthony Robinson,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison announced on Twitter.
According to the New York Daily News, the three men are members of of the violent “Sev-O” gang, an offshoot of the Bloods. A fourth suspect in the case, Joel Baba, 22, was reportedly killed in a double-homicide in Bronx just hours after Robinson’s death.
All four men had previously been arrested in November 2016 in a gang take-down, the news outlet reported.
On Sunday, July 5th, police officers from the 44th Precinct responded to a 911 call for a male shot at Sheridan Avenue and East 170th Street. pic.twitter.com/kiEmmJfuEW
— Chief Rodney Harrison (@NYPDDetectives) July 6, 2020
A sedan is seen in the video footage pulling up to the victim and his daughter at an intersection shortly before 6 p.m., then a passenger points a handgun and opens fire, appearing to hit Robinson in the chest multiple times. The 29-year-old later succumbed to his injuries at BronxCare Health System.
Robinson was visiting Brooklyn to spend the holiday weekend with his eldest daughter, who lives with her mother in the Bronx. Khloe wasn’t injured in the incident. The motive behind the fatal shooting is not yet clear.
The Epoch Times contacted the NYPD for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.
The incident came amid a wave of deadly shootings in the nation’s most populous metropolis and other cities over the Fourth of July weekend.
In New York, 64 people were wounded and 11 were killed in 45 shootings, marking almost a threefold increase compared with the same three-day period last year.
NYPD Chief Terence Monahan said the violence was linked to a multitude of factors, including a sharp decrease in jail population because of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic and a measure that requires judges to release defendants awaiting trial on misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
Monahan also said animosity toward law enforcement after the May 25 death of black American George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police has emboldened some people who believe “that cops can’t do anything anymore.”
Despite the recent uptick, the number of violent crimes in the United States has decreased by about half since the 1990s. In New York City, major crimes have fallen by more than 80 percent since 1990.
NYPD Assistant Chief Jason Wilcox described Robinson’s shooting as “a very, very cruel crime.”
“Obviously, Mr. Robinson isn’t the only victim of that crime,” Wilcox said, the New York Daily News reported. “That young girl is the victim of that crime. That community is also the victim of that crime.”
Robinson is survived by two other children—a 2-year-old son, and another daughter who was born in Florida just after Father’s Day, Robinson’s cousin Michael Parker told the news outlet.
