Transcript: Mayor Adams Briefs Media With NYPD Officials on Homicide Investigation

March 9, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams: Good afternoon. I'm joined here by the men and women of the NYPD. And I just really want to take my hat off to Chief Essig and his team, Chief Maddrey, Chief Shell for really a job well done. We were able to apprehend a person who was wanted on a homicide and he was a bad person. I remember speaking with Chief Maddrey after the second robbery and stated that this person is out here and we have to find him right away. He did another robbery and caused a homicide, and we are really pleased by the RO of the men and women of the New York City Police Department in quickly bringing this person to justice.

And this was good old-fashioned police work, and that police work was made harder with this. Face masks protected us from Covid, but is really allowing criminals to exploit this. We can have public safety and health. They go together, and we are following the standard operating procedures of the airlines when they tell individuals to pull down their mask for a few moments so their faces are identified. You don't get Covid from three seconds, and the CDC has made that clear.

And I commend Chief Maddrey for last week calling on for when a person enters a store to bring their mask down for those three seconds. This is what we were trying to find. This is what we were trying to find, and this is what we are seeing over and over again in our robbery patterns. If he didn't have this, then that crime stopper tip have allowed us to be here days earlier. And so anyone who states we can't have public safety and public health together, they are wrong.

This is an administration that is not going to listen to the noise of those who sit on the sideline and just want to critique to critique. We have an obligation to make sure we could have the health and we could have the safety. You cannot identify this person with all of this gear on. And it took good old-fashioned detective work .to bring this person to justice. And I am really pleased by the actions of the chief of detectives and his team and the men and women who are being led by chief of patrol and chief of department and the police commissioner, Keechant Sewell. At this time, I will turn it over to the chief of department, Chief Maddrey.

Jeffrey Maddrey, Chief of Department, Police Department: Mr. Mayor, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. In the wake of last week's senseless tragedy in the East Side where a deli employee was shot and killed as he worked to serve his community, today we are announcing an arrest in this case. Earlier today, a 39-year-old male was apprehended by investigators in the confines of the 42 Precinct in the Bronx and now charges are pending. This individual was one in the connection with multiple robberies committed over several days, both in Brooklyn and Manhattan, along with last Friday's homicide. As we said on Monday at the scene of that horrific crime, this is another example of pointless avoidable violence on the streets of our city. It was another senseless shooting committed without any thought or fear of consequences. Criminals must know they cannot act with impunity. And we must not... And we must, excuse me, hold everyone accountable for their actions. This is our job. This is the job of our criminal justice system, and now this process will move forward.

This suspect was tracked by video with witness interviews, and through invaluable crime stoppers tips submitted by members of the community. Everyone in this case stepped up and I really want to say thank you. The investigators and the people we serve came together to prove again that public safety is a shared responsibility and that we're stronger when we work together, and that anyone who threatens our neighborhoods with violence will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I want to commend the greatest detectives in the world who immediately went to work doing what they do best. Along with the rest of our detective bureau assets are field intelligence officers, members of our robbery squad, Manhattan North Homicide, major case teams and more. The NYPD continues to work day and night to bring justice to victims and their families to keep our city safe. I want to recognize the critical work done by our a Regional Fugitive Task Force, which is an interagency collaboration that truly makes this city and the entire metropolitan area safer. And for the members of the public who stepped up and helped out at this critical time, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you.

James Essig, Chief of Detectives, Police Department: Good afternoon, everybody. Just the people to my right, I'd just like to introduce. That's Inspector Brian Gill, the commanding officer of Manhattan North Detectives. With him is Captain Curtis Rose of the Detective Bureau of Manhattan North, and Lieutenant Commander Chris Doty of the 19 Precinct Detective Squad who led this investigation.

I'd like to give you an update on a three-borough robbery spree that occurred between February 25th and March 3rd, and resulted in a deli worker being shot and killed in one incident. Investigation revealed that a male in a black mask, attired in a hooded white Tyvek suit, enters commercial establishments: three times a deli and one time a bagel shop. He produces a black firearm, demands money, cell phones, and Newport cigarettes.

In the Upper East Side incident, the deli employee is shot and killed. The male then flees in a dark blue moped. During the course of this investigation, detectives were able to track that scooter, and have recovered two Tyvek vests. One in the rear of 1311 Newkirk Avenue in the Flatbush section, which was from the February 25th incident and the other in the rear of 3213 Park Avenue after the Upper East Side Melrose robbery homicide occurring March 3rd.

We immediately released images of the suspect to the media and the public, asking for assistance. On Sunday, March 5th, detectives received a Crime Stoppers tip stating that the suspect entered a bodega at 1665 Boston Road and was wearing military fatigues and riding that blue moped. Acting on this tip, detectives tracked that individual through video to 1700 Crotona Park East. We retrieved video from the alleyway at that location for March 3rd, the day of both the homicide and the robbery, which occurred at 11:25 PM and 11:50 PM.

Pre-incident video shows a male wearing a Tyvek suit enter the alleyway at 10:20 PM and leave at 10:25 PM. Video from that same camera shows that male returning to the location at 12 minutes after midnight, no longer wearing that suit, but wearing the same sweatshirt, clearly visible under the Tyvek suit in the video from the earlier robbery in Melrose. We believe, and based on video evidence, he discarded that suit after the Melrose robbery at 3213 Park Avenue.

Detectives were able to identify this individual based on video, clothing and interviews. Today at 10:40 AM outside of 3808 Rombouts Avenue, the regional task force took into custody without incident. Arrested was Kimond Cyrus, a male 39-years-old, residing at 3308 Rombouts Avenue. His date of birth is July 2nd, 1983. He has three prior arrests, one in 2020 for bail jumping in Mount Vernon, one in 2009 for operating a motor vehicle while impaired and a 2002 robbery. Charges at this time are pending.

Recovered at the scene of his arrest was a blue moped and a black handgun in plain sight. A search warrant is pending for that location. I just want to thank everybody who was involved in this. The Manhattan North Homicide Squad, the 19 Precinct Detective Squad, the Gun Violence Suppression Division, and our Robbery Squad. But I particularly want to thank the public for its help. This tip was very instrumental in the apprehension of this violent person. With that, I'd like to take any questions.

Question: Chief, what was different about this Upper East Side robbery that led him kill [inaudible] the previous?

Essig: Well, in all the robberies, he enters with a handgun, demands, money points it at him. In the 19th Precinct, the Upper East Side video, we have no video. There is a witness who says he sees him pistol whip him and he runs out. So there's no video, no witness to the actual shooting in that location.

Question: Hi chief, I have just two quick ones for you. Have you [inaudible] evidence?

Essig: Right now we have that search warrant pending at his apartment and we hope to find some soon.

Question: Since there were a couple earlier robberies, was there a time maybe [inaudible] know before the homicide?

Essig: The two robberies that occurred, they occurred on the 25th and then the first.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Essig: So we requested media on the two of them. In those two, you have somebody, again, just walking in, as the mayor explained, face mask up. If we get good images, we'll put it out to the media and then he hits again two days later. So those were the four incidents.

Question: Chief, two questions. Did he say anything upon arrest and when exactly did you identify him? What was it that led to [inaudible]?

Essig: No, the tips are basically what I said. As we ID'ed him, we ID'ed him last night. Detectives were able to go to that location. We talk to people, we show pictures, people ID him and then we track him from 1700 Crotona to his address through video. Facial rec, we have no hits on facial rec on this.

Question: Did he say [inaudible]?

Essig: No, no statements. He requested an attorney.

Question: Chief, do you know why the specific Tyvek suit and how he had access to it? Was he in the construction trade and is he suspected of any other robberies in which she was not wearing the suit?

Essig: Well, as far as citywide, we looked at it. These are the four that we see in the Tyvek suits. They are available in most hardware stores, Home Depot, Lowe's, anywhere else. Pretty common for painters. As far as his occupation, we don't know yet. We don't have any information on his occupation yet.

Question: Chief, any indication why he made this particular [inaudible] especially the one the Upper East Side? Any indication?

Essig: Now we know in Brooklyn, he has a prior address in Greenpoint. So he might be familiar with the areas in Brooklyn. As he lives up in the Bronx now, that's what... As far as Manhattan, we don't know, but he does have ties to Brooklyn, ties to the Bronx and he came down and did the one in Manhattan too.

Question: Yeah, I just wanted to ask you, can you just clarify how many robberies he's now linked to? Is it three and one homicide or... ?

Essig: Yes. Three. There's four incidents.

Question: Four, I'm sorry.

Essig: Starting on the 25th. So he does the 25th, March 1st, two on March 3rd. One was the Upper East Side homicide, and then one was the Bronx robbery.

Question: Is he here illegally?

Essig: I have no information on that.

Maddrey: Paul, just one thing I'm going to just say and just to tie, Ms. Moore, to tie what you asked about, tie into what you asked about. When this first robbery occurred, the Detective Bureau did put out a wanted poster. So they did a request for information, but we realized that we have to build out our ability to communicate with our neighborhoods, our stores, our bodegas, our taxi drivers in a more efficient and quite frankly, a faster way.

So right now we're in the process, working with our ITB department, the mayor's ITB office, to build out a communication system where members of the community or a bodega association or taxi drivers can now communicate with the department and communicate with one another. So when a robbery like this occurs, they'll be able to put it out immediately and saying, "Hey, there was a robbery incident at this location. Here's a description, be on the lookout. Police notified." So this is something we've been trying to build out to start making sure we increase communication and we're able to respond to these crimes faster, and get more information as they occur.

Question: Will we get anything in the media [inaudible]?

Maddrey: Well, we're going to work all the way through this and if it requires us to send things out through the media to help expedite information and our ability to capture suspects quicker, we'll do that as well.

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