On a late Wednesday evening in the Belmont section of the Bronx, 24-year-old Leonard Milton Hines was fatally shot in a violent encounter that also wounded a teenager. The incident occurred just before 11 p.m. on June 4, 2014, near the intersection of East 187th Street and Bathgate Avenue. Emergency responders arrived to find Hines with a gunshot wound to his chest and a 17-year-old male with a gunshot wound to his arm. Both victims were transported to St.
Barnabas Hospital, where Hines was pronounced dead. The 17-year-old was reported to be in stable condition.
In the wake of the shooting, Hines's family described him as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, noting that he had just celebrated his birthday. His mother, Altamese Hines, expressed her hope that her son's killer would be brought to justice. In July 2014, the New York Police Department arrested 18-year-old Deyshawn Pantoja in connection with the fatal shooting. He was subsequently charged with murder and assault.
Further investigation revealed that the shooting was not an isolated act of violence but was connected to larger conflicts between street gangs in the Bronx. In August 2016, the Bronx District Attorney's Office announced a 95-count indictment against 40 alleged members of the 'Nine-Four Crew,' a set of the Bloods gang. The indictment included charges for a string of violent crimes, including four homicides. The murder of Leonard Hines was listed among these, with the indictment alleging that Dayshawn Pantoja was responsible for his death and the wounding of the 17-year-old victim, identified as Alvin Davidson. The indictment detailed a campaign of violence by the gang to establish dominance over rivals, which often resulted in bloodshed on the streets of the Fordham neighborhood.
