Bloody Holiday Week

Club Violence Leaves One Dead, Eight Wounded

(Photo by David Greene)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, July 9- Two incidents around area bars have left one man dead and eight others wounded. Three others were killed and at least four others were wounded in at least five other violent incidents reported across the borough.

Police were called to the Whispers Inn, located at 1246 E. Gun Hill Road in the Laconia section. The victim, Dwight Lewis, 27, of the Claremont section was shot dead at just before closing time after getting into an argument with a fellow patron.

The mortally wounded Lewis was rushed to Jacobi Hospital where he expired from his injuries.

An unidentified man inside the club, stated, "The man unfortunately died. The police are looking at the surveillance video now."

Moments later a pair of detectives would exit the watering hole, one carrying a laptop computer, apparently with the video of the incident.

A second unidentified man wearing a Metropolitan Transit Authority uniform was seen locking up the club, he fumed, "Don't take my picture, I'm not the owner. I'm just a worker," before getting into a vehicle and speeding away.

The following morning at just after 4 a.m., cops were called to a the topless bar, "Club Eleven," located at 1152 Randall Avenue in the Hunts Point section. A brawl in the street left two men shot and six individuals slashed. All of the victims are expected to survive.

The carnage was not limited to local watering-holes as a 19-year -old man was shot in the leg in front of 1662 Vyce Avenue in Claremont Village, at 2:30 p.m., on July 5.

Later that same night a young mother allegedly killed her two young children before attempting to commit suicide-- but failed, inside her Parkchester home.

At just before 4:30 a.m., on July 6, one man was shot in the leg and a second suffered a graze wound outside of 270 E. Burnside Avenue. Both victims were reported to be in stable condition.

Ten minutes after the Burnside shooting, a 25-year-old man was stabbed to death inside his home at 578 E. 141 Street. Police would question and later arrest his girlfriend.

At just after 2 a.m. on July 8, another individual was reported shot at White Plains Road and E. 225 Street. That victim was also expected to recover.

The NYPD has registered 802 shootings in the first six-months of 2012, up nearly 11 percent over the previous year, but the murder rate is still down for the first half of the year with just 194 killings.