Author Topic: First Ward  (Read 7032 times)

Offline DLabrosse

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First Ward
« on: June 26, 2009, 10:13:17 AM »
Residents living in the first ward have been asking for more police presence for a long time. The story below is an unfortunate tragedy but maybe now their wish will be granted.

Hackensack police search for car in connection to stabbing
Thursday, June 25, 2009
BY MONSY ALVARADO
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

Hackensack police were searching  today for a black Honda with New York license plates in connection to a stabbing of a  20-year old Teaneck man.

Victor Garcia was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center last  night with stab wounds to his neck and abdomen, said Captain Frank Lomia. Garcia underwent surgery and remains in critical condition, Lomia said.

“That vehicle and the occupants are people of interest to us,’’ Lomia said  today. “I’d like to find out who they are. We are very interested in talking with them.”

Garcia was spending time with friends on Lodi Street when the vehicle with tinted windows drove by, said Lomia.  The occupants  were tossing beer bottles, which prompted Garcia and others in the area to run, Lomia said.

“We think possibly the occupants of that car got to him in some way and may have done this,’’ Lomia said.

Police received a call around 9:55 p.m. that a man was laying outside the M&M Building, a recreation center, on Holt Street, Lomia said. When police, ambulance and fire personnel arrived, Garcia was lying on the grass bleeding, Lomia said.

Rev. Brian Laffler, a minister at St. Anthony of Padua, an Episcopal Church in Hackensack, said he headed to the hospital when he heard about  the stabbing.

“When I heard that there is an incident, I always worry that  it  is someone connected to the church,’’ he said . It's part of being the pastor in this neighborhood.”

“This is just a very tragic situation,’’ he added.




Offline Editor

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Re: First Ward
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2009, 09:15:16 PM »
Cops nab three in stabbing
Sunday, June 28, 2009
BY ELAINE D'AURIZIO
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

HACKENSACK — Police arrested two men and one juvenile early Saturday in the brutal stabbing of a 20-year-old Teaneck man who remains in critical condition at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Arrested in the planning and assault on Victor Garcia are Manuel Ramirez, 21, of Hackensack; Gabriel Tujols, 21, of Union City, and a 16-year-old juvenile of Hackensack.

"We believe the victim is not affiliated with a gang but the three individuals arrested are affiliated with the DDOP [Dominicans Don't Play] gang," said of Capt. Frank Lomina the Hackensack Police Department.

Police were called to the scene at 9:55 p.m. Wednesday and found Garcia lying on the grass and bleeding outside the M&M Building, a recreation center on the corner of Holt and Lodi streets in Hackensack. Garcia, who suffered two stab wounds to his neck and one to his abdomen, was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center where he underwent surgery and has remained unconscious since the attack. A hospital spokeswoman reported Saturday afternoon that Garcia was still in critical condition.

Ramirez and Tujols are being held in the Bergen County Jail each on $1 million bail. They are charged with one count of attempted murder, one count of endangering an injured victim, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. Tujols is also charged with one count of gang criminality. If convicted, Ramirez facts up to 30 years in jail. Tujols faces up to 50 years in jail.

The juvenile is charged with one count of gang criminality and was remainded to the Juvenile Detention Center in Paramus.

E-mail: daurizio@northjersey.com
_____________

Related topic: Gangs
« Last Edit: June 28, 2009, 09:18:40 PM by Editor »

Offline DLabrosse

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Re: First Ward
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2009, 04:47:14 PM »
The police did a great job in apprehending the suspects. Now that we know there are gangs in Hackensack, specifically in the first ward, I hope increased police presence will dissuade the gang members from congregating there.

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Re: First Ward
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2013, 06:03:35 PM »
Trio sentenced to prison in ‘mistaken’ gang stabbing death of Teaneck man
Tuesday February 26, 2013, 5:15 PM
BY  KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Three members of a street gang known as “Dominicans Don’t Play” were sent to prison Tuesday for their roles in the stabbing death of a Teaneck man more than three years ago.


MITSU YASUKAWA/ STAFF PHTOGRAPHER
Standing next to his attroney Kevin Roe, Manuel Ramirez, one of the three men convicted of taking part in a gang-related killing in Hackensack, listens to the judge on his sentence Tuesday.

Gabriel Pujols, 25, of Union City, received a 23-year term during his sentencing in state Superior Court in Hackensack. His co-defendants, Frederick DeLeon of Union City and Manuel Ramirez of Hackensack, received 12 and 10 years, respectively.

What triggered the deadly attack on 20-year-old Victor Garcia in June 2009 was a case of mistaken identity. The three men were drinking at a party in Hackensack and later got into a scuffle with a group of men believed to be members of another street gang known as the “Trinitarios,” prosecutors said.

Pujols perceived the incident as a sign of disrespect, and he and his two friends decided to settle the issue later, prosecutors said. They got into a car driven by Ramirez, and after they drove past a group of men standing on the side of a Hackensack street, they made a U-turn, jumped out and attacked the men, prosecutors said.

Garcia, who was not a gang member and was returning with two friends from a soccer game, happened to be in that location, and while everyone else ran from the attackers, he didn’t, prosecutors said.

Pujols admitted that he stabbed Garcia, thinking that he was a member of a rival gang. DeLeon also admitted to his role in the attack.

Ramirez denied any role in the attack; he was tried for murder last year, and a jury found him guilty of reckless manslaughter.

The sentencing on Tuesday was attended by relatives of Garcia.

In a letter read in court by a relative, Garcia’s mother said her son came from Ecuador in 2006 at the age of 16. He was a gifted soccer player and wanted to join the U.S. Marines, but his parents were concerned he could be injured in battle and made him change his mind, she said.

When given the opportunity to speak, Pujols apologized to Garcia’s family.

He also renounced his gang membership in a letter read by his attorney.

“I really detest everything I once was,” he said in the letter.

His attorney, Joseph Manzo, asked for leniency for his client, saying Pujols truly felt remorse and that he tried to make up for it by cooperating with authorities and testifying against Ramirez — the lone co-defendant who chose to go to trial.

Jerejian, however, gave Pujols a 23-year term, the maximum under his plea agreement.

 “It was you who took it upon yourself to stick a knife in this man’s neck and stab him to death,” the judge said to Pujols. “You were the killer of Victor Garcia. And I don’t think hiding behind remorse now makes it any better.”

David Calviello, an assistant Bergen County prosecutor, said DeLeon’s brother was killed a few years ago in a gang-related attack, but even that did not persuade DeLeon to avoid gang activity.

Like Pujols, DeLeon pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and testified against Ramirez.

On Tuesday, Ramirez insisted that he took no part in the attack against Garcia.

 “I want to say that at no time did I participate physically or emotionally in the death of Victor Garcia,” he said through a Spanish interpreter. “If I had, I would have admitted it.”

His attorney, Kevin Roe, said his client was “stupid” for being involved with the likes of Pujols and DeLeon:  “They are evil; he is stupid,” Roe said.

Roe also asked for leniency for his client, saying the 24-year-old Ramirez had no other criminal conviction and that he led a law-abiding life.

Calviello, the assistant prosecutor, did not agree.

 “Isn’t it relevant,” he asked, “that if you are in a gang, you are not living a law-abiding life?

“An innocent person is dead because of gang involvement, because of gang mentality.”

Email: markos@northjersey.com

 

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