Syracuse officials discuss crackdown on gang members following homicides

Local and federal law enforcement agencies have arrested 27 members of the 110 Gang as a result of the latest Syracuse TRUCE initiative, which was “triggered” in part by the murder of Zavion Escobar, police said.

A TRUCE “Trigger,” a collaborative effort between local and federal law enforcement, occurs when a member of a gang “picks up a gun and kills someone,” said Syracuse Police Department Chief Frank Fowler at a press conference Thursday at the Southwest Community Center. Law enforcement agencies then focus on going after that particular gang and making arrests, Fowler added.

Fowler said this particular effort was launched after the suspects in the shooting deaths of Escobar, who was killed at 148 Hope Ave. on Oct. 14, and Tony Guyton, who was killed at 550 S. Clinton St. on Nov. 10, were each identified as members of the 110 Gang.

Rashaad Walker, 24, was arrested on Nov. 11 and charged with murder in the second degree for the killing of Guyton, according to a press release from Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner’s office. Miner was also in attendance Thursday.

Keary Moore, 21, was arrested on Dec. 12 and charged with murder in the second degree for the killing of Escobar.

The 27 people arrested during the TRUCE initiative received 58 separate charges, ranging from violating a park curfew to unlawful possession of marijuana to larceny to the two murders, according to a list provided by Miner’s office.

Fowler — who was joined by Miner as well as officials from the New York State Police, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, among others — said the initiative has been effective in reducing crime, but he did not have specific statistics immediately available.

“Hopefully this will be the last time any of us will have to stand at or around this podium to announce a TRUCE ‘Trigger,’” he said. “But in the event that someone doesn’t listen, then we will be back here.”

Previous TRUCE “Triggers” have been administered in August 2015 and March 2015, according to the release from Miner’s office.

Miner pointed on Thursday to an abundance of guns flowing into the Syracuse community as an explanation for crime.

“As long as you have that volume of weapons available, where people can make instantaneous, rash decisions, (crime) is incredibly difficult to eradicate,” she said. “We need help from others to make sure we can stem, if not eradicate, the flow of illegal guns into our community.”

Lawrence Williams, program director for the Syracuse Comprehensive Gang Model, which strives to suppress gang-related violence, also spoke Thursday and called for an effort to prevent crime before it happens.

“We can’t arrest our way out of this,” he said “Obviously … there will be arrests that continue to be made when there are egregious acts of violence. But I think it’s really imperative that we continue the work of being proactive in our community.”