Mt Vernon Shooting 9/15/07

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Number Seven for the year so far.....sad.

Bronx man fatally shot in face in Mount Vernon

By GLENN BLAIN

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: September 16, 2007)

MOUNT VERNON - A 28-year-old Bronx man was fatally shot in the face yesterday morning, the city's seventh homicide this year.

Police found the body of Jawara Miller on the sidewalk in front of 251 W. First St. shortly before 5 a.m. Officers had been dispatched to the commercial strip between 15th and 16th streets after a 911 call about a man down in the street.

Mount Vernon Police Commissioner David Chong said yesterday that it was too early in the investigation to discuss a motive for the shooting.

At the spot yesterday afternoon where Miller's body was found, candles and an arrangement of blue and white flowers had been placed on the sidewalk.

Abdul Almontaser, a clerk at the 249 Deli & Grocery, next to the site, said he arrived to work at 9 a.m. to find several police officers on the sidewalk. The body had been removed.

"It's crazy," Almontaser said. "We weren't expecting something like this to happen."

While the area is largely commercial, apartments are located above the storefronts on both sides of First Street.

Chong said he hoped that people living in those apartments might have heard something and would contact the police.

People with information about the case are asked to call detectives at 914-665-2510 or the department's 24-hour tip line, 914-665-2588.

"Any tips would be greatly appreciated," and calls will be kept confidential, Chong said.

Police are still working to solve last month's execution-style slaying of 56-year-old Vernon Bagby. Police think Bagby, who was shot in the temple just after he got into his car at Eighth Avenue and Fifth Street, was killed because of a personal grudge.

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This is news, but not an incident workup.