College Student Sold 73 Guns To NYPD Undercover Officer, DA Says

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Shakor Rodriguez, 23, faces 304 firearm-related criminal counts, according to the Bronx District Attorney's Office. (Shutterstock)

A 23-year-old student is accused of bringing dozens of guns into New York City by bus from Tennessee.

NEW YORK CITY — A student used bus trips from his Tennessee university to ferry firearms into New York City, where he sold 73 of them to an undercover officer, prosecutors said.

The gun pipeline stopped after authorities arrested Shakor Rodriguez, 23, and arraigned him on 79 gun-related criminal counts Wednesday, said Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark. He faces 304 counts total from two indictments.

“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,” Clark said in a statement. “Dozens of the firearms were loaded and four are considered assault weapons. The NYPD worked diligently to intercept these deadly weapons before they hit our streets.”

The case — dubbed “Operation Overnight Express” — unfolded as New York City found itself gripped by a spate of high-profile gun violence incidents, including the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers.

Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, among other elected officials, have scrambled to address the wave of violence. The situation has even reached the notice of President Joe Biden, who plans to visit the city next week to talk with the mayor about stopping the flow of guns.

Rodriguez’s arrest will help stop guns into the city, said Keechant Sewell, the NYPD’s commissioner.

“Stopping traffickers who flood our streets with illegal guns is
mission critical in our work to smash the Iron Pipeline,” she said in a statement.

Rodriguez, known as “Sha,” attended Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, authorities said. Detectives are continuing to investigate where how and where he obtained the guns, but it appears he transported them from the south to near his former Bronx home near Weeks Avenue and Nelson Avenue, prosecutors said.

Between July 2020 and December 2021, Rodriguez sold an undercover officer 73 firearms, of which 59 were loaded, authorities said. Those included more than 40 high-capacity magazines, as well as multiple “drum” magazines.

The undercover paid typically between $1,000 and $1,500 per gun,” a release states.

Rodriguez is in custody and will be back in court Jan. 31, authorities said.

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