Nearly 40 Gang Members Indicted In Connection With Bronx Shooting

[Lucinda F. Boyd]

Dozens of alleged gang members were indicted Friday in connection with shootings and assaults over the past year in the Bronx, including a near-fatal shooting of a Bronx teenager last November.

The 160-count indictment was unsealed Friday against 38 suspected gang members. They will be arraigned on conspiracy, attempted murder, assault, illegal gun possession and drug charges.

Thirty-two suspects are in custody; another six are being sought.

Among those charged were five men already arrested, accused of shooting 15-year-old Vada Vasquez November as she was walking home from school.

Vasquez spent time in a medically-induced coma and was recently sent to rehabilitation.

Tyrone Creighton, 19, was also shot. Police say he was the intended target.

According to the Bronx district attorney's office, this latest indictment supersedes the charges filed last year.

A Rikers Island inmate who was among those indicted Friday was accused of ordering the shooting.

In addition to the attempted murder of Vasquez, the men are charged a shooting last month in which four were injured.

The Bronx district attorney says the investigation began in October 2009 and was centered around rising tension between some rival gangs located in the vicinity of 169th Street and Clinton Avenue.

The conspiracy charges cover the five-year period from 2005 to 2010..