NYPD: Teen Arrested, Charged With Fatally Shooting Harold Abodia In The Head On E. 21st Street
Migly Jean-Jacquez, 18, was arrested and charged with fatally shooting Harold Abodia, 22, in front of 585 E. 21st Street, by Ditmas Avenue, on July 13, the NYPD announced on Friday.
Jean-Jacquez, who lives on Beverley Road, between New York Avenue and E. 32nd Street, was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
According to police, Abodia, who lived on Foster Avenue, by E. 3rd Street, was shot in the head and hand at about 2:30am on the morning of Monday, July 13. Abodia’s death occurred on the same week as the fatal shooting that occurred on Newkirk Avenue and E. 17th Street, which took the life of Adetunji Ajakaye, a 25-year-old neighbor who lived on E. 18th Street, between Newkirk and Foster Avenues.
Ajakaye’s death was the second of two murders that happened at Newkirk and E. 17th Street in recent months; neighbor Raphael Kurton, who lived on Ocean Avenue between Newkirk and Foster Avenues, was fatally shot there in May. Police recently tracked down Patrick Zephir, a suspect in Kurton’s, in West Virginia and arrested him.
These fatal shootings have been part of an increasing amount of deadly violence in our community: the number of murders in the 70th Precinct has risen from one at this time last year to eight murders so far this year — a 700 percent increase, according to the most recent CompStat report. The number of shooting victims has also increased, going from 15 at this time last year to 23 this year, which represents a 53 percent jump, according to the same CompStat report.
At recent meetings, police have said they are working hard to address the violence, and precinct officials stressed that major crime, overall, is down by a little more than 15 percent in the 70th Precinct. The number of rapes, felony assaults, burglaries, and grand larcenies have fallen. The number of grand larceny auto and robbery reports, however, have increased. You can see the latest numbers here.
If you’d like to speak to 70th Precinct police officers about any concerns regarding crime, you can do so tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4 at the precinct community council’s National Night Out Against Crime, which will begin at 7:30pm at the Parade Grounds.