New York  - The Lower East Side is mourning the death of a young, bright athlete who was gunned down near his Baruch Housing Projects on Friday, January 4 – making him New York City’s first homicide victim of 2013.  Raphael Ward, 16 (Facebook: BloccBoy Tokyo) was en route a local pizza shop with friend Nicholas Ramos, 18 when he stopped to talk to some thugs. Nicholas carried on, only to hear shots a few minutes later. Ward, who was shot one time in the chest stumbled into a local deli. He was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital…. More