Breaking story: Shooting on Convent Avenue

Shooting in front of 117st and 7th.
Any details?

Any updates on it?

Police copter with searchlight was going for over an hour in a small circle then seemed to come back all night.

I heard the shots as well. Apparently it started at the Leather Lounge on W. 128th just before Amsterdam down that little hill and ended with shots fired on the corner of W.127th and convent. I heard the helicopters and police cruisers and some kind of tactical force unit that was making really weird noises all night long and barely had any sleep. But the shots were so loud that I actually thought it was right outside my building.

Must have been a big gun .45

I'm signing a lease next week, apartment is on 127th&convent heh

Get bulletproof glass written into the lease.
Hear thats a "busy" corner.
Pct needs to setup a command post there.
Petition your neighbors and send to Rangel and pct. Captain.

We heard the shots, there was a crowd of teenagers and one of them (female) said, "He shot him ! Did you see !"

My significant other immediately got up to call the police but they were already there - seemed like seconds.

For an hour or so I was looking out the back window into the alleys and backyards to see if anyone was there but I did not see anyone. The searchlights do not quite make it in.

On the street today, I could only find out that it was the "lounge" directly below us, a party with teenagers. They are a very clandestine operation, does anyone know if they have permits ?

Aishabrik: Since you said "signing" rather than "signed" ... If it is 1 Convent, I hope they told you that they have had a bedbug problem for some time.
I would not feel right if I did not let you know !

The apartment looks beautiful, I am devastated, and besides we already put down a deposit. Sigh.

@Tony, yes it must have been because I heard 6 shots and then 5 mins later I heard another one. I looked out of the 2nd floor hallway window of my building and saw a bunch of kids running up the street and then saw a police cruiser going up as well. Was definitely crazy. I saw the lights from the helicopters flashing in my windows all night long and had to hear the sirens. I wonder if anyone got hurt. I also heard in the street that someone did get shot and jumped in his car and took off but had his flashers on and started driving slowly...there was also a bullet hole in someone's truck that was parked there. I saw that this morning walking my dog. @Aishabrik, yeah if there is a bedbug problem you might want to reconsider signing that lease. There's a sight that tells you what building has had a bedbug problem. I forgot the name but you can do a search on Google.

It is bedbugregistry.com. It has been having technical problems lately, so if you search the address and it does not work, you could google "1 Convent" and "bedbugs" and see if you get something that way.

About your deposit: It is against the law not to inform a prospective tenant, IN WRITING, that there has been a bedbug issue in the building. The city made laws to protect people. So you will not have a problem getting your deposit back.

Lexluther: My significant other said at first, "Oh, they shot into someone's car, shot someone through the window !" He was looking out our window. I think the shooting was on Convent, I was surprised when people said this morning that it was down below.

The kids running up the street were what we heard also.

Why is there no story about this ? I mean, with all of the searching and everything else, it must have been a major thing.

Guys, thanks for your help, I checked up with http://bedbugregistry.com/location/NY/10027-2603/New-York/1%20Convent%20Ave - should go see the apartment one more time, there was an old couch in apt, if it is still there, it would show if the bedbugs are still there.

1 Convent is also rent stabilized, so if you do move in, be sure to get a rent history from DHCR and make sure you are paying the legal rent, not more.
AFTER you sign the lease.

@Harlem resident, I agree I was searching all over the news for this but came up with nothing. I am surprised that NY1 didn't catch it considering it seemed to be some kind of big deal.I heard that it was exactly on Convent and 127th. But the police were over at the club. From my building if you look out of the hallway window you can see down to where the club is at. I checked their website and someone posted about the shooting being at the club. My thought is that it started there and ended on Convent somewhere between 127th and 128th. I'm on 128th and my apt is inside the courtyard and it sounded like the shots were right out front. I think the reason it's not in the news is because they are afraid to deter folks away from this neighborhood being that the property value is rising. @Aishabrik....good idea but I would still be a little leery.

As the youngens were running up 128th I could hear girls screaming.

WTF??? I just went into my bed to go to sleep and what do I hear? Another round of gun shots. Really? Again??? After that BS that happened last night? I would have thought these little heathens would have given it a break for tonight, but I guess not. This time it's not that close. It's close enough, but not as close as last night. Was about 5 shots. This is what these dumb asses do during their Christmas break while their mothers are in their apartments smoking crack and sleeping with the random dude from the street. 2 nights in a row is too much for me and is ridiculous. They are not going to stop until they all kill each other off!!

aishabrik, I would really re-think that lease if I were you. That is a major shooting hotspot.

Here's the other one Tony mentioned. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/harlem-man-dies-shooting-seventh-ave-building-article-1.997723?localLinksEnabled=false

@Jennifer thanks for the link. Also, I was unaware that 127th and Convent was such a shooting hotspot. I've been here since February and the only other incident I heard of was a few shots by St.Nicholas park. I know that there are a lot of fights on that corner. I feel bad for the owners of the Lara's Deli that's on that corner, because they are right there in the middle of everything. I also have a few friends on that block that have dogs that are good friends with my dog and I would hate to see anything happen to them or anyone else for that matter. This is supposed to be an up and coming neighborhood and was under the impression that it is monitored at all times because of all the students that live around here and the colleges that are so close by. Maybe the PCT needs to put up a post on that corner with cameras as they do other corners. Then again, they have these set ups all over Lenox and yet there are still several shootings over there. This makes me a little concerned about taking my dog outside for a walk. In the am we go through the park but when it's dark we just go around the block...meaning 127th.

Ive lived happily at 1 convent for years. Convent is relatively quiet, the teens usually hang over on the terrace. Convent is mostly families & students from what I see. Club Leather is shady, not sure what the deal is with that spot. Only seems in operation & mobbed @high school holidays. Bed bugs have not been an issue for me. But they're everywhere in the city...

http://mobile.gothamist.com/tags/bedbugs

The shooting mon night was a first for me, that was crazy & I was kept up all night by the investigation & choppers. Any news on this? Thx

There are a few different things contributing to the situation in the area.

First, the projects, west and north. Unsupervised adolescents, on the streets at all hours, come from there. A lot of the violence originates in the projects - but not all of it.

Then, the concentration of social service housing on 127th. Some of the tenants are anti-social; destructive. The management(s) (ECDO is one) are unresponsive. There is significant activity of all sorts at the corner of 127th and St. Nicholas Terrace. 6 St. Nicholas Terrace, a stabilized building, was turned into a drug / ex-con rehab by the equity investment firm who are the "owners." They had been unable to rent the apartments for the $2,500 a month they sought. It brought many non-neighborhood people, troubled ones at that, into the area. Last year, one of the residents was arrested and convicted for an attack on a City College student. The “owners” tried to deny he lived there. That said, there are many decent people living on the block.

Below 1 Convent are buildings populated by deeply anti-social tenants. The children of the problem people roam the streets at all hours. I have mentioned the toddler left in the care of his slightly older siblings. When the weather is warm, you can find him sitting on the steps at 11 PM. If you happen by and see him, brace yourself for the things you will hear come out of his mouth - shocking. Likely, it is what he hears at home. Here, as on the Terrace, there are decent people who are equally unhappy about the destructive tenants.

If you wonder why the landlords move in undesirables: Soon, this area will be subject to huge changes. The anti-social people are unlikely to know their rights as tenants, and even if they do, they are unlikely to assert them. So ... once there is a market for apartments at far higher rents, those people will be summarily got rid of. Bear in mind that the landlords do not care about quality of life in the area because they do not live here.

Nice post Harlem resident and so very true. I have a few friends on 127th and yes these little heathens do hang out mostly on the corner of St. Nicholas Terrace and 127th. For the most part it is relatively quiet over here. The sad thing is that in my building these young kids as in ages ranging from 2 years old to about 11 years old are left out in the streets to hang out all night. I find this to be so disturbing being that I grew up with values such as I had to have my ass in the house before the street lamps came on and that was that. I was never allowed to hang out in the streets like that and neither was my daughter. These kids are left to be raised in the streets and unfortunately they become part of the bad element. I know which kid you are talking about that is always on the stoop. It truly is sad. And yes I have heard about the halfway house over there as well. Sometimes the residents sill on over to 128th st. I caught some dude smoking weed in front of my building one time and he mentioned he was a new resident of that building. I made him leave. I was like take that crap to your own building. And yes I too am unhappy with the destructive tenants throughout this entire neighborhood. It's a shame, we are all living here in prime real estate and it should be treated as such. We are so very lucky to be living around here and paying such cheap rent. I paid a fortune living in a brownstone in Brooklyn.

I should have been clearer. I don't mean 127 & Convent specifically. I mean 127 in general has been a big problem lately, at various cross streets. St. Nicholas Terrace has always been an issue, but we've been hearing about shootings at 127th and X or Y or Z all summer and now into the winter.

Personally, I live near another recent hotspot area--I'm a half block off lower St. Nicholas, and St. Nick between 111 and 116 has been crazy--so I feel for those near 127th. (And personally, I'm giving up this lease when it runs out, as amazing as my apartment is.)

Apparently, the length of St. Nicholas has been terrible for a long time. At one point, we were living at 133rd and St. N. It was a nightmare on every level.

Jennifer: You might wait and see what happens if you love your apartment. The new buildings at 127/128th will change things quite a bit, I think. There have also been some building sales, over the last year, that could prove significant for the area.

Great post, very informative! Thanks for shedding some insight on some of the contributing factors. I love the neighborhood & its convenience but we have some real issues that need attention.

You dont have to be close to be in danger.
I use to live on 95st off CPW and one day I came home to my ground floor apt to find a bullet in my front room and a bullet hole in my window. Cops speculated it came from a shot fired in the projects on 100st that they had responded to.

Crime complaints should be addressed to this man below IMO.
The police are doing everything they can do legally and financially with smallest number of cops in the city.
A FB writing campaign to the source of the criminality is the only solution to decreasing the chance of getting hit by a stray bullet.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailnycha.html

Hope the cops assassinate the perps.

Hi Guys Im looking at an apartment today at 1 convent ave... I saw the claims made back in April about the bed bugs.. any chance a building can still rent after such claims have been done?

Im really nervous on how to move forward, I heard its a good neughborhood but bed bugs I heard never go away.

I do not have enough first hand experience with bed bugs - somehow, we escaped this experience ! That said, I have heard many stories and we would not move to a place with that history. Unless it was 20 years in the past or something. If nothing else, we have an extensive library and could not cope with an infestation of our books.

I live nearby, not in that building, but heard that there is a serious problem. Apparently there have not been sufficient extermination attempts.

If you take the apartment, bear in mind that this is a rent stabilized building. It is important to be sure - AFTER YOU SIGN THE LEASE, do not ask the broker or landlord about this - that you are paying the legal rent. This is not just to save you money, and there can be significant savings, but most importantly to enable people coming after you to secure an affordable apartment.