‘Boston Mike’
Police found the body of a man, 33, dead of a gunshot wound to the head at 6:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning in an apartment in a building on St. Mark’s Pl. near First Ave. Detectives said they recovered a gun and were investigating the incident, which appears to have been a suicide. But because the case was under investigation, detectives on Dec. 2 would not divulge the name of the victim.
East Village neighbors, however, said the man was known as “Boston Mike,” active in the hardcore rock scene in the East Village and that he died playing Russian roulette. Friends set up a memorial outside Manitoba, 99 Avenue B, a bar and music venue, with his photo and messages like “B.M. We Love You.”
DOA in bar
Police found the body of Dylan Gillmore, 29, of 76 E. Houston St., dead of a gunshot wound in the head at 1 a.m. Sat., Nov. 29, in the basement of Tom and Jerry, a bar at 288 Elizabeth St. between Bleecker and Houston Sts. Police recovered a handgun nearby and said the wound was self-inflicted.
Jackson St. shooting
An apparent stranger shot a man and a woman in front of 28 Jackson St. in the Vladeck Houses complex shortly before 9 p.m. Sun., Nov. 30, police said. The man, 26, was shot in the wrist and the woman, 18, was shot in the groin. Both were taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. Police are looking for a suspect described only as “a dark-skinned man.”
Canal St. fracas
An argument between two men at the corner of Mercer and Canal Sts. at 5:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 29, ended when one struck the other on the head with a bottle, police said. The suspect, 27, was arrested at the scene and the victim refused medical attention.
Harassed
A woman, calling out anti-gay epithets, followed two men walking on Eighth Ave. at 23rd St. at 12:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 29, police said. The suspect, Tashima Williams, was arrested by a beat officer who charged her with harassment. The incident was classified as a hate crime.
Dragged in subway
A 49-year-old Chelsea woman who was taking her two granddaughters to church on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 30, was injured when she was dragged several feet along the platform of the 14th St. and Seventh Ave. subway station by an Uptown train when a door closed on her coat sleeve, police said. The victim, identified by the Daily News as Lucy Desmangles, a home healthcare attendant, suffered a dislocated right arm and was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital. She was freed when someone on the platform managed to pull the coat free of the door as the train was leaving the station.
The Transit Authority said the motorman and conductor were ordered to submit to drug and alcohol tests, standard procedure in accident cases. The T.A. said it would also investigate whether the sensors that indicate if a door is stuck were functioning or were ignored.
Varick St. fire
A man working on aviation instruments in a laboratory at 200 Varick St. just south of Houston St. spilled a small amount of a highly flammable chemical onto a hotplate on Sun., Nov. 30, causing temporary evacuation of the building. The man sustained minor facial burns when about two ounces of the spilled liquid, benzyl peroxide, flared up.
Firefighters and haz-mat crews searched the building as a precaution, a Fire Department spokesperson said.
6th precinct memorial
Sixth Precinct police will unveil a memorial plaque in a public ceremony on Dec. 10 for two officers from the precinct who died Sept. 11, 2001. Officer James Leahy and Det. Claude “Daniel” Richards, the latter who lived in the West Village Houses and was a member of the Bomb Squad Unit, which is based at the precinct stationhouse at 233 W. 10th St., responded to the attack on the World Trade Center towers and lost their lives. The public will be welcome at the 11 a.m. Wed., Dec. 10, event.
Graffiti arrests
Ninth Precinct police arrested two suspects on Nov. 26 in connection with a rash of graffiti vandalism in the East Village at the end of last month, said Capt. James McCarthy, the precinct’s commanding officer.
The suspects, Mike Skinner, 21, of Brooklyn, and Troy Lumpkin, 21, of 253 E. 40th St., were charged with third-degree criminal mischief and possession of a graffiti instrument for tagging various sites in the precinct with markers.
“Our graffiti squad was out every night last week, but these two suspects were arrested by the anti-crime [plainclothes] squad,” James said. The suspects’ tags, skull-shaped and unreadable, were found at several locations on E. Third St. at Avenue A and Avenue B and on the Con Edison substation on Avenue A between Fifth and Sixth Sts.
Police are also investigating a rash of graffiti etched with acid on commercial windows on Avenue A. The locations, according to Robert Arihood, a local resident who documents street life on Avenue A, include the Citibank branch at 50 Avenue A; Kim’s video at 83 Avenue A; Ray’s Candy Store on Avenue A and E. Seventh St.; Odessa Restaurant a few doors away on Avenue A; the karaoke bar at 81 Avenue A.; the magazine store on Avenue A at E. Fourth St. and Gracefully supermarket at E. Second St. and Avenue A.
The graffiti on glass doors and windows, reportedly done with hydrofluoric acid, a powerful etching agent, has forced merchants and property owners to replace glass, Arihood said. The bank has since covered its glass front with clear plastic, which is impervious to the acid, Arihood noted.
