Gangrey.com

Something More Than Murder

all elbows and knees

Doyle Murphy: CITY OF NEWBURGH — A tall, slim 15-year-old died with a bullet in his body late Tuesday night, three years after the same thing happened to his brother.

Jeffrey Zachary was talking to friends in front of 27 Dubois St. about 10:20 p.m. when a car drove past. A gunman fired through the window. One bullet hit a tree. Another hit Jeffrey.

Jeffrey's sister, Tova, had just finished doing a friend's hair when she heard the shots. She came outside to find Jeffrey lying on the sidewalk and knelt by his side.

Jeffrey, stay, she pleaded. Don't go.

Others nearby flagged down a Mobile Life ambulance leaving St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital less than two blocks away. Jeffrey was unconscious when the ambulance took him, and he died an hour later. It was too much like last time.

"It seems like a movie," Tova said yesterday, "That's what it seems like, like deja vu."

Comments

Re: Something More Than Murder

Ben covered the first chapter of this three years ago. I read the stories as background when I started covering the city four months ago. Sadly, that turned out to be more valuable than I had anticipated.
Here's Ben's story:
http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2005/03/16/steps16.htm

Re: Something More Than Murder

Doyle, nice work. What could have been another black-kid-gets-shot-in-a-drive-by 12-incher turned into a nice piece about life in that neighborhood and how it affects real people. Great read.

Re: Something More Than Murder

Nice job, Doyle.

Re: Something More Than Murder

Alexa James said it today: Doyle is The Man. And I think I can speak for Ben when I say, Doyle, that if Mike Levine hadn't left us too soon last year, you'd hear him saying, "Hey, Doyle, that's terrific!"

Re: Something More Than Murder

Really nice job, Doyle. Because of your story, people will realize this is more than another dead person on the streets of Newburgh. He was a person, a member of a family.

Re: Something More Than Murder

Thanks, guys. It helped to have some smart people around with whom to talk to this one through.

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