City Island News BX: Fire Bug Torches Cars

City Island News BX: Fire Bug Torches Cars: Fire Bug Torches Cars By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 25- The fire marshal and the NYPD are currently looking for the p...

Fire Bug Torches Cars

Fire Bug Torches Cars

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 25- The fire marshal and the NYPD are currently looking for the person or persons who set fire to some curbside garbage that destroyed to vehicles in Norwood.

Authorities could provide few details before the police reports have been filed, but officials say both incidents took place on opposite ends of Hull Avenue, between East 209 Street and East Gun Hill Road, between 1:30 and 2 a.m. on March 19.

A mattress was set on fire at the curb where an older model black BMW caught fire outside of 3307 Hull Avenue. A red Honda Ridgeline SUV caught fire minutes later outside of 3349 Hull Avenue, after bags of garbage were torched.

Both vehicles suffered extensive damage to the passenger sides and undercarriages of both vehicles and both will likely be a total loss.

One victim was too distraught at the loss of her car to speak, but one resident of the block remarked, "I knew about this one, but now I see there's two. You never use to have this sort of thing happen here."

Fire marshals continue to investigate the cause of the fire and who set it, while the NYPD is reportedly checking surveillance video in the area.

#NYPD #Arson #Firebug #Norwood #Bronxnews

City Island News BX: Shots ring out on St. Paddy’s Day

City Island News BX: 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

City Island News BX: Psycho Dad Fed Kids Poisoned Pizza

City Island News BX: 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

City Island News BX: Bloody Breakup

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