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A Staten Island couple were gunned to death in their home in what appears to be a revenge killing.
Alafia “Laf” Rodriguez and his pregnant girlfriend, Ana DeSousa were gunned down by Phillip Moreno on Monday, May 11. The couple’s friend, Erica Johnson was also shot multiple times in the back, body, and head. She may be paralyzed reports say.
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According to the NY Daily News, the shooting may have been due to a long-standing rivalry between the two men.
Moreno — who served 15 years in prison for a 1992 manslaughter case — blamed Rodriguez for snitching on him in a drug-related incident in 2008 that got him locked back up for over a decade.
Once he was paroled, friends say the beef picked back up after Moreno was paroled again in 2017.
New York City police arrested Moreno outside the home. NYPD Asst. Chief Kenneth Corey told reporters Monday that he still had the gun in his hand when he was captured. He charged Tuesday with murder, attempted murder and weapon possession.
The couple’s 20-month-old daughter was also inside the home, but she was uninjured.
Friends and neighbors say that Moreno “was telling everybody that he was going to kill Laf. Everyone knew and nobody stopped him.”
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According to a report this month, murders were up 4.1 percent (102 compared to 98) for the first four months of 2020 when compared to the first four months of 2019.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea released a statement to accompany the new crime statistics, “Though the pandemic has put considerable strain on the department, and taken 38 colleagues who we will never forget, our uniformed officers and civilian employees have demonstrated extraordinary professionalism in adopting innovative policing functions to remain on the front lines, to allay uncertainty and fear and to relentlessly serve New Yorkers for as long as this unprecedented crisis goes on.”