NYC Gangster Released Without Bond In Attempted Murder Case Participated In 3 Shootings Last Month: Feds

Darrius Sutton, an alleged Brooklyn gang member, was released without bail in May, despite facing an attempted murder charge, and has allegedly been involved in three shootings since his release.

“Sutton, 23, was hauled into court months ago for a May 16 shooting, during which he allegedly shot another man in the courtyard of an East New York building, seriously injuring the victim, according to the feds,” The New York Daily News reported. “Despite charges of attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault with intent to cause injury, Sutton was released in the state case without bail set, according to court documents.”

Sutton was reportedly set free after the sole witness in the case recanted.

“At the time of arraignment, the sole eyewitness had recanted so we did not have sufficient evidence to keep the defendant in custody,” a spokesman for the DA said in a statement. “The investigation is continuing and we hope other witnesses come forward.”

“Less than two months after being sprung, the purported Bloods gang member allegedly joined others in three drive-by shootings this summer,” The New York Post reported. “The gunplay took place between July 13 and 14 and were just a few of the six shootings in which Sutton participated over the past year, federal prosecutors allege.“The defendant’s violent spree over the last year has left at least seven individuals with gunshot wounds,” federal prosecutors wrote, according to The Post. “That these events did not lead to seven deaths is entirely fortuitous — the videos described above make clear that the defendant shoots to kill.”

Authorities took him into custody last week and he is now being held in federal custody.

Violent crime, in particular shootings, have skyrocketed in New York City this year as law enforcement officials are vilified and calls to “defund the police” have gained traction in the city. The city’s proposed budget would cut $1 billion in funding from the NYPD and a plainclothes anti-crime unit is being eliminated.

Local outlet amNewYork reported:

On Aug. 3, the NYPD released the July 2020 crime stats, which shows that there was 177% increase year-over-year in the number of shooting incidents across the city in July with 244 in total. In July 2019, there were only 88 shootings over the course of the month. The number of shootings increased by 72% year-to-date, with 450 by July 2019 to 772 by July 2020.

According to the statistics, the number of murders throughout the city for the first seven months of the year is also up, jumping from 181 by July 2019 to 235 by July 2020, rising 30% year-over-year. In July 2020 alone there were 54 murders, rising from 34 in July 2019.

“We’re starting to see significant upticks in crime — particularly in violence. And it could get worse,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said during a recent press briefing. “You can’t keep people safe without keeping bad, dangerous people off the streets.”Patrick Sharkey, a Princeton sociologist told The Financial Times that “when police step back, it destabilizes communities.”

“I think that’s going on in a number of cities right now,” Sharkey continued. “As violence increases, Americans become more punitive in their attitudes and call for more policing. This aggressive, brute force policing didn’t come out of nowhere.”