NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A 23-year-old college student faces hundreds of charges after he allegedly sold 73 guns and high capacity magazines to an undercover officer.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said Wednesday that Shakor Rodriguez, 23, a Bronx native who studied at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, is charged in two indictments totaling 304 counts.
According to an investigation by the NYPD Firearms Investigations Unit and the Bronx District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau, dubbed "Operation Overnight Express," between July 2020 and December 2021, Rodriguez, or "Sha," is alleged to have sold the firearms, including 59 that were loaded, as well as over 40 high-capacity magazines, and multiple "drum" magazines. The officer typically paid between $1,000 and $1,500 per gun.
Clark's office said Rodriguez allegedly sold most of the weapons near his home in the vicinity of Weeks Avenue and Nelson Avenue in the Bronx, and multiple sales occurred on Allen Street in Manhattan.
Their investigation revealed he transported guns in duffle bags and, in some instances, used a bus to transfer them from Tennessee into the city.
"Stopping traffickers who flood our streets with illegal guns is mission critical in our work to smash the Iron Pipeline," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a statement. "The NYPD’s officers, working with their prosecutorial partners in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, are the first line of defense in protecting our residents, our families, and our children from the scourge of gun violence, and I commend their work in this important case."
Officials said the investigation is continuing into how Rodriguez obtained the guns and where they were purchased.
On Monday, the defendant was arraigned on 19 counts, including criminal sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, and possession of ammunition.
He was previously arraigned on Dec. 23 on 255 counts, including criminal sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, conspiracy and criminal possession of a firearm.
He was remanded and is due back in court next Monday.
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