He went from getting A’s — to facing Class B felonies.
A Tennessee college student — who once made the dean’s list — was arrested in New York for allegedly selling dozens of loaded guns to an undercover police officer, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Bronx native Shakor Rodriguez, 23, faces a total of 304 counts, including criminal sale of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon, from two indictments, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said.
Rodriguez, also known as “Sha,” was attending Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., when he allegedly smuggled scores of firearms into the Big Apple, stashing them in duffle bags and at times transporting them by bus.
He’s accused of selling 73 guns, 59 of them loaded, to an undercover cop between July 17, 2020 and Dec. 22, 2021 — while apparently keeping up a 3.5 GPA for at least part of that time.
A “merit page” from his university states that he was one of 2,000 students named to the dean’s list for academic achievement during the Fall 2020 semester.
Most of the weapons were sold near Rodriguez’s old stomping grounds on Weeks Avenue, or on Allen Street in the Lower East Side, prosecutors said.
Authorities are still investigating how and where Rodriguez allegedly got the weapons, which an undercover then bought for between $1,000 and $1,500 a pop.
Several of them were semi-automatic weapons, and at least four “are considered assault weapons,” District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
Prosecutors say Rodriguez allegedly also hawked more than 40 high-capacity magazines, including multiple “drum” magazines. That’s the same type of ammunition magazine used by Lashawn McNeil to shoot and kill NYPD officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora in Harlem last week.
Rodriguez was arrested Dec. 22 in The Bronx, as part of the more than year-long sting operation, dubbed “Operation Overnight Express.” He was arraigned the next day on the first indictment and remanded into custody.
A since-closed GoFundMe page called “Bring Shakor Home” was created for him on Dec. 27, raising almost $300.
“I would not have expected that of him,” said Loretta Cook, a Bronx resident who said she watched Rodriguez “grow up” in the neighborhood.
“He wasn’t a thug, he was respectful,” said Cook, who recognized Rodriguez from a photo and described him as “quiet, low-profile.”
Rodriguez was arraigned Monday on the second indictment, and is due back in court on Jan. 31.
His Legal Aid attorney, Eric Scott, declined to comment on the case.
His bust comes amid a state and local crackdown on illegal firearms being trafficked into the Big Apple.
“The NYPD worked diligently to intercept these deadly weapons before they hit our streets,” Clark said in a statement. “Bronxites are dying from gunfire and we cannot tolerate one more illegal gun in our community.”
Additional reporting by Catalina Gonella
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