Fifteen alleged gang members just got slapped with a 113-count indictment for turning Brooklyn into Fallujah — 16 separate shootings, 182 rounds fired, one 17-year-old dead, and a 16-year-old innocent bystander paralyzed — and I guarantee you not a single one of these guys was an NRA member worried about his concealed carry permit.
But please, Democrats, keep lecturing us about universal background checks. That's clearly the issue here.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch held a press conference on May 11, 2026, to announce what they're calling a massive gang takedown. The defendants are all members of two subsets of the 59 Brim Bloods — a charming little crew known as FOG, short for "Fly Ooter Gang," and their buddies Koney Sides, operating out of the Coney Island housing complexes between West 15th and West 37th Streets. Their territory runs from Surf Avenue to Neptune Avenue, and for 13 months they turned it into a shooting gallery that spilled across nine Brooklyn precincts.
The names on this indictment read like a roll call of failure — Randy Belle, 18. Kristian Blackstock, 17. Nehemiah Dash, 18. Cornell Graham, 18. Christopher Moore, 21. Isef Richards, 27. Christopher Smart, 16. Sixteen years old. A child, already allegedly shooting at people. These aren't law-abiding citizens who snapped. These are gang soldiers who were, according to prosecutors, waging open war on rival crews including WOOO, Choo, Folk Nation, and half a dozen others across Brownsville, East Flatbush, Crown Heights, and Gravesend.
The whole bloodbath kicked off after two FOG members were killed in late April 2025. Javon Johnnie was murdered on April 27th. Two days later, on April 29th, 17-year-old Tamari Carmona caught a bullet to the head — from his own crew. Friendly fire. Defendant Tyquan Holmes allegedly texted his own mother five days later admitting it: "Somebody's life got took,,, and I was envolved." He couldn't even spell "involved" but he could pull a trigger. And rather than grieve, the gang went on a 13-month revenge spree against rivals they blamed for the chaos they created themselves.
On February 20, 2026, defendants Isef Richards and Christopher Moore allegedly unloaded 30 rounds into a street in East Flatbush. They hit a 16-year-old kid — not a gang member, not a rival, just a kid — in the abdomen. That teenager is now paralyzed. He was reportedly walking to a Starbucks after football practice. Let that sink in. A high schooler going to grab a coffee after practice, and now he'll never walk again because two gang members decided to spray bullets into a neighborhood.
Ten days later, on March 2nd, Christopher Moore — the same guy from the East Flatbush shooting — attended a supervised release meeting at the Center for Justice Innovation in Downtown Brooklyn. That's right, he was already in the system. He spotted three rival Folk Nation members in the lobby, followed them outside, and opened fire at close range. Police recovered .40 caliber cartridge casings and a bullet fragment lodged between the window panes of 236 Livingston Street. He missed. Barely.
On May 30, 2025, defendants Kristian Blackstock and Christopher Smart — again, Smart was 16 — fired at least 18 shots at a rival's house in Canarsie. Before the shooting, Smart was being egged on in a group chat to "boom" a rival nicknamed JC. Two minutes after the gunfire, Smart texted the group: "Take that JC." Police recovered a 9mm pistol near Blackstock's arrest location.
Commissioner Tisch laid it out plainly: "This 13-month investigation closed 16 separate shooting cases and ended the spree of violence and retribution these gang members had unleased across Brooklyn." DA Gonzalez added: "Today's indictment reflects our commitment to continue to drive down shootings and homicides across Brooklyn by focusing on violent gang members who destabilize our neighborhoods with senseless gunfire."
Good. Finally. But here's the part that should make your blood boil.
Seven people were shot across 16 incidents. One dead. One paralyzed. Bullets flying through nine precincts over 13 months. And the entire time this was happening, what were New York's politicians focused on? Making it harder for you to buy a legal firearm. Red flag laws. Magazine capacity limits. Permit requirements that take six months and cost hundreds of dollars. Rules designed to punish the people who actually follow rules.
Not one of the 15 defendants charged in this 113-count indictment obtained their weapons through a licensed dealer. Not one filled out a 4473. Not one submitted to a background check. They got their guns the way criminals always get their guns — illegally. And no law sitting in Albany or Washington was ever going to stop that.
These gang members were coordinating hits over group chats, filming drill music videos taunting their rivals, and posting it all on social media. They weren't hiding. They were advertising. And the system that was supposed to stop them? Christopher Moore was on supervised release when he opened fire in Downtown Brooklyn. The system had him. The system let him walk.
So the next time some politician stands behind a podium and tells you that "common sense gun reform" will stop the violence, remember this indictment. Remember the 182 rounds. Remember the 16-year-old who just wanted a coffee after practice and will never walk again. Remember that the problem was never legal gun owners.
It never was.