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YONKERS, N.Y. A Yonkers teen was arrested and charged Sunday after allegedly possessing a gun used in the murder of a man in Pitkin Park late last week.
Marc Paul, 16, of 249 McLean Ave. was charged Sunday with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony, Yonkers police confirmed Tuesday evening.
No one, including Paul, has been charged in the murder of Justin Degree, 24. Police said, however, that Paul is believed to have been in possession of the handgun used in the shooting. Degree died Friday night after suffering a single gunshot wound around 8 p.m. near the basketball courts in Locust Hill Avenues Pitkin Park.
On Friday, one neighbor said he saw six or seven men shooting dice on the court earlier in the evening. The man said he heard two gun shots ring out at about 8 p.m. and saw a group of men running from the park.
On Sunday, Jim Bostic, chair of the City of Yonkers Violence and Gang Prevention Coalition, said his SNUG team GUNS spelled backward has been in the neighborhood since the shooting, hoping to prevent any further violence.
Bostic said the group has not been able to determine whether Friday nights incident was related to a 2008 shooting, in which Degree was sentenced to five years in prison for shooting reputed Strip Boyz street gang leader Kasheem Killa Kash Little.
Hopefully this was not gang-related and we want to make sure that it wont become that, Bostic said.
Yonkers police have said they believe as many as two dozen people may have witnessed the shooting and are asking for anybody with information to call 914-377-7724 or 914-377-7725.
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