CITYWIDE

Swastika Puts Brooklyn Sephardim on Alert

A coalition of Sephardic Jews are offering $1,000 to help capture whoever scrawled a swastika last week on a Flatbush dentist’s home on East 1st Street between Avenues S and T. Today, flanked by State Senator Martin Golden, City Council Member Domenic Recchia Jr., and other politicians who represent the area, the Sephardic Community Federation plans to denounce the graffiti as a hate crime and call upon the New York City Police Department to step up their patrols of the area. Flatbush a section of Brooklyn, has more than 30,000 Jewish households, federation spokesman Aaron Troodler said. The police are investigating.

— Special to the Sun

Victim of Queens Shooting Rampage Remembered

A victim of Friday evening’s bizarre shooting rampage involving red cars was remembered yesterday as a devoted family man who lived in the same Long Island house where he grew up. Todd Upton, a 51-year-old United Parcel Service driver, was killed and two other men were wounded in drive by shootings over six hours in Queens, prompting a manhunt that ended when suspect Matthew Colletta surrendered peacefully early Saturday, prosecutors said. Upton and his wife were returning from dropping off their oldest daughter at Marist College in Poughkeepsie when he was shot in the neck at about 11 p.m. Friday. He died a short time later at a hospital Kathy Tsoukatos, a neighbor of the Uptons in Massapequa Park, said the couple had just bought their new red minivan. “It’s unbelievable,” she said. “You talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Teenager Killed In the Bronx

A teenager was fatally shot in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx early yesterday morning, police officials said. Anthony Benedith, 16, was entering a car in front of 1027 Walton Ave. when an unidentified assailant shot him and fled the scene. Benedith was rushed to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital and pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m. No arrests have been made and police have yet to determine a motive for the slaying.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Man Fatally Shot, Woman Injured in Shooting

A Bronx man was fatally shot and a woman injured in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx early yesterday morning, police officials said. Alvin Sandaval, 26, was shot multiple times in the chest and a 34-year-old woman was shot near her right ear at the corner of East Kingsbrige Road and Jerome Avenue at about 5:32 a.m., police said. Both victims were brought to St. Barnabas Hospital, where Sandaval was pronounced dead. The woman, who police didn’t identify, was in stable condition. No arrests have been made.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Gang Violence Ends In Deadly Shooting

In what appeared to be a gang-related fight, a man was killed and two others injured in the Fordham section of the Bronx early yesterday morning. At 1:03 a.m., police responded to a 911 call about a person shot. They found Macelino Brillon, 20, with a gunshot wound to the chest at the corner of East 184th Street and Bathgate Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man, who police have only identifed as being 20 years old, was assaulted in the head and face. A 21-year-old man who police also wouldn’t identify had been assaulted in the head, police said. The two injured men were brought to St. Barnabas Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition. No arrests have been made.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun