A 23-year-old Bronx man who attended Austin Peay University in Tennessee is facing more than 300 charges for selling 73 firearms — for roughly $1,000 and $1,500 per gun — to an undercover cop, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.
Shakor Rodriguez was the focus of a sting investigation by the NYPD’s Firearms Investigations Unit between July 2020 and December 2021, and allegedly had been transporting guns in a duffle bag from Tennessee to his native New York City, sometimes by bus. According to the DA’s office, Rodriguez would sell weapons near his former home in the vicinity of Weeks Avenue and Nelson Avenue in the Bronx, and on Allen Street in Manhattan.
Of the 73 guns obtained by law enforcement, Rodriguez, also known as “Sha”, allegedly sold the undercover police officer 59 loaded guns, as well as more than 40 high-capacity magazines in the transaction. On Monday, Rodriguez was indicted on 19 individual counts including the sale of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon and a firearm, and possession of ammunition. The Bronxite was previously arraigned on Dec. 23,2021, for 255 counts on similar charges.
In total, Rodriguez faces 304 counts, and is due back in court on Monday. Rodriguez’s indictment comes at a time when the Bronx and New York City as a whole have seen a precipitous rise in gun-related violence.
“The defendant allegedly brought these semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines up from the south, sometimes transporting them in a duffle bag by bus. Dozens of the firearms were loaded and four are considered assault weapons,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. “The NYPD worked diligently to intercept these deadly weapons before they hit our streets. Bronxites are dying from gunfire and we cannot tolerate one more illegal gun in our community.”
An investigation into how Rodriguez obtained the guns and where they were purchased is ongoing.
“Stopping traffickers who flood our streets with illegal guns is mission critical in our work to smash the Iron Pipeline. 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,” said city Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes.
