MICHELLE DEPINHO, KRISTIE KILLEN & KYLEIGH PANETTA
NEWS EDITOR/MANAGING EDITOR & STAFF WRITERS
NYPD officers responded to a 911 call at 445 West 238th St. at 11:51 p.m. on Sept. 7 to investigate a report of shots fired. The shot was fired at An Beal Bocht, a bar located next door to the Overlook Manor dormitories.
No one was injured in the incident.
A report from the 50th precinct stated that the responding officer was met by a male who said he had heard shots fired.
Officer Cordero of the 50th precinct said that the incident is still under investigation and the detectives on the case do not know whether the shot was fired from a BB gun or an actual gun.
Manhattan College students were made aware of this incident through a public safety email that was sent on the morning of Sept. 8.
“On Sunday, September 7, 2014 at about 11:45 p.m. unknown passenger(s) in a black auto possibly a Honda Civic drove by the “An Beal Bocht Cafe” and fired one gun shot from the auto toward the front of the An Beal Bocht Café,” the email stated.
Kelly Commons security footage from that night shows a dark sedan speeding down Waldo Avenue towards Manhattan College. Three students also appear in the video walking down the sidewalk.
Juan Cerezo, director of public safety, said that one of the students seen in the footage was interviewed regarding their account from that evening.
“Patrons of An Beal Bocht who were there the night of the incident said that the shooting happened very quickly and that there was a lot of confusion afterwards as to what actually happened.
“The witnesses that cooperated with the police that day, the people that were sitting inside the bar, were not students,” Cerezo said.
Cerezo said that Manhattan College is cooperating with the 50th precinct by providing them with video footage and any other information possible.
Locals and employees of the various establishments, including An Beal Bocht, were surprised by the incident.
They think it was more of an initiation thing because they could have shot at the windows,” Bronagh Harmon, employee of An Beal Bocht, said. She said the shot was fired at a dog bowl on the ground and there was no other damage to the property.
“The cops haven’t been up since and there’s been no investigation,” she said.
“We just heard that there was a black car, someone was in it,” Khalid, employee of New Riverdale Deli, said. “But we do not know who the target was.”
Shootings like this one in the Manhattan College area are not a common occurrence.
“This is a great neighborhood,” Cerezo said. “We’ve always considered this the country club of the Bronx.”
Cerezo has worked at the college for many years and said he only recalls one other shooting incident in the neighborhood that occurred off-campus at the Lounge, a bar across the street from Horan Hall.
Crime statistics for this area are on the decline as a whole according to data provided by Inspector Rasa of the 50th precinct.
Robberies, assaults and transit crimes are down from last year. There was only one homicide in that same time frame and it resulted from a shooting.
Rapes have increased, but grand larceny relating to autos has grown the most in the past year and remains one of the biggest challenges for this precinct.
Cerezo said public safety will keep students informed on any updates they receive on the investigation.
Individuals with any information related to the incident are encouraged to contact Detective Dunn at (718) 543-9315. Any public safety concerns on campus should be directed to the Office of Public Safety by calling (718) 862-7500.