Brooklyn DA, NYPD announce arrests of 32 alleged members of Wooo and Choo gangs
NEW YORK -- Thirty-two alleged members of two violent street gangs were arrested Tuesday in a stunning takedown by the Brooklyn district attorney and the NYPD.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported, the gangs are accused of operating out of public housing complexes and often stalking their enemies in broad daylight.
It is a video that explains the urgency of law enforcement officials to arrest nearly three dozen violent, gun-happy members of the Wooo and the Choo street gangs. A gang member in a black hoodie opens fire in broad daylight on a man putting his child into a car. He thinks the man is a rival, but he misses that man and instead hits an innocent 3-year-old leaving daycare.
"She suffered a direct hit into the shoulder area of her body," Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said.
Believe it or not, the next day the gang banger bragged about posting a video, ironically from a story on CBS2, in a private chat.
"These individuals want to get credit for the harm that they're doing," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced the arrest of 13 members of the Wooo gang and 19 members of the Choo gang that operated out of neighboring housing complexes in Brownsville.
The charges included conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to possess weapons, attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and weapons possession. Officials said that the 106 counts in four separate indictments included 27 incidents, two homicides, and 17 non-fatal shootings that wounded 14 people, including innocent bystanders.
More than 25 guns were used and many of the shootouts were captured on surveillance videos, many in broad day light.
"Consider the following ages: 62, 60, 17, 17 and 3. These are ages of victims that were shot during this investigation. This is the wisdom and the children of our community shot due to the sheer disrespect for life that these gangs show," said Jason Savino of the NYPD Gun Violence Suppression Division.
Sewell called it, "Indiscriminate violence that terrorized the residents of 10 different housing developments. We have taken these criminal off our streets and together we will endeavor to keep them off."
Officials say there was so much animosity between the two rival gangs that they continued squabbling after they were arrested and brought to central booking.