‘Poster child of the failing system’ busted by NYPD’s new anti-gun unit in Bronx
By Tina Moore and Amanda Woods
New York Post
March 17, 2022
Bloods gangbangers
A 20-year-old Bloods member — dubbed “the poster child of the failing system” by Mayor Eric Adams — was busted by one of the NYPD’s new Neighborhood Safety Teams just two hours into their first night patrolling the Bronx, officials said.
David Echevarria — who has been nabbed before on attempted murder charges, as well as three gun possession charges this year alone — was arrested at 6:37 p.m. Monday at the corner of Pugsley and Haviland avenues in Soundview, police said.
“This is the poster child of the failing system of a small number of people who have made up their minds: We are going to be dangerous in this city and we could care less of what you do,” Hizzoner told reporters during a Wednesday press conference about the new NYPD unit. “And we arrest them, they go out, they arrest them, and we put them right back on the street — over and over again.”
Members of the Neighborhood Safety Teams — which started rolling out Monday as a key part of Adams’ plan to get guns off the street — stopped Echevarria only about two hours into their tour, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey told reporters.
The NYPD’s new anti-gun unit arrested a reputed gang member during its first day patrolling the Bronx
“That stop was based on various factors that led [officers] to reasonable suspicion to stop and investigate,” Corey said. “The individual is ultimately found to be carrying a 9mm pistol — a ghost gun — and that ghost gun was equipped with a laser sight and was loaded with eight rounds of ammunition.”
Echevarria was hit with a rap for criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, police said.
Blueprint Middle School (MS 562) is located at that intersection, though it was unclear where exactly Echevarria allegedly was on school grounds.
He faces four other weapon possession charges, including two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree — one because the weapon was defaced and another because it was his second such offense, cops said.
He was ordered held on $100,000 bail, city Department of Correction records show.
The arrest marks his third gun-related bust in the past year.
He was arrested March 15, 2021, and charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting of a 21-year-old man on Hutchinson River Parkway East on Nov. 15, 2020, police said.
David Echevarria was caught with a loaded 9mm pistol on March 14, 2022
The man was discovered with several gunshot wounds to the hand, calf, torso and groin, cops said.
This past Halloween, Echevarria was busted again, this time for leaving the scene of another shooting, and was found in possession of a Smith & Wesson firearm, cops said.
Echevarria was also arrested in May 2019 for allegedly stabbing a victim during a robbery, and in February 2018 for a carjacking at gunpoint, Corey said.
“This is what we talk about when we talk about drivers of violence in our community,” Corey said. “[There is a] very small number of people who are responsible for the overwhelming majority of the violence and this is the mission. These are the individuals that these brave men and women have volunteered to go after on a daily basis.”
Adams called Echevarria’s violent criminal history “horrific.”
“This is what we are fighting against,” the mayor added. “This is what these officers are fighting against. How could you not be jaded when you go out and take the gun off the street and then when you walk down the block, you see the person back on the street again the next day?
“That’s what this battle is about. We’re going to continue to take the guns off the street, but we need help.”
The NYPD’s new anti-gun teams, which replaced the controversial plainclothes anti-crime teams that were disbanded two years ago, hit the streets in its initial phase Monday after a slight delay.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office did not immediately have information on Echevarria’s latest arrest.
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