Gang members accused offatally stabbing a Bronx teen in what New York City police called a case of “mistaken identity”allegedly acted on the erroneous belief that the 15-year-old victim had appeared in a sexual video with one of the assailants’ relatives.
The revelation from an N.Y.C. police source follows confirmation to PEOPLE that someone affiliated with the Trinitarios gang contacted the family of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz via social media to acknowledge the assailants targeted him incorrectly — and to apologize for the attack.
“They’re just saying it wasn’t for Junior, it was somebody else, but they confused them and they said sorry and they apologize and they send their condolences,” said a relative of Guzman-Feliz who did not want to be identified, according toCBS New York. “But he’s gone. That doesn’t change anything.”
Chief Dermot F. Shea/Twitter
The footage shows the suspects following Guzman-Feliz into the bodega and grabbing him. The teen struggles with the men, who start dragging him toward the door. Guzman-Feliz yelled for help as he was attacked, one NYPD source said, and he can be seen in surveillance video clinging to the door’s frame as the suspects assault him.
Guzman-Feliz was slashed in the neck and was able to run several blocks to a hospital, but he died from his injuries.
A police source confirmed that Guzman-Feliz was killed in a case of “mistaken identity.”
Other police sources said the teen and the girl in the sex video both were participants in the New York Police Department’s Explorers program, which guides young people who have expressed interest in law enforcement careers.
The video that allegedly led to the assault shows a young man who looks like Guzman-Feliz performing a rap while the girl was engaged in sex in the background, theNew York Postreports.
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The eighth person arrested, 23-year-old Bronx resident Elvin Garcia, faces murder, manslaughter and other charges, said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark at a news conference on Tuesday, according toNBC New York.
Six other suspects appeared in a New Jersey courtroom on Tuesday and agreed to be extradited and face formal charges in New York, where they will be assigned new attorneys to represent them, the station reported.
According to a news release from the prosecutor’ office in Passaic County, New Jersey, where the six were arrested Sunday, they are: Jose Muniz, 21, of Paterson, New Jersey; Jose Tavarez, 21, of the Bronx; Manuel Rivera, 18, of the Bronx; Danel Fernandez, 21, of Bronx; Joniki Martinez, 24, of Freeport, New York; and 24-year-old Santiago Rodriguez, of the Bronx.
Those suspects and their families have been receiving death threats, said public defender Judy Fallon, who had been assigned to represent one of the suspects in the New Jersey court, NBC New York reports.
“I would ask everyone to please let the system run its course,” Fallon urged.
The seventh man arrested, 19-year-old Kevin Alvarez, of the Bronx, has been charged with second-degree murder and gang assault. According to theNew York Times, he has pleaded not guilty and remains behind bars without bail.
His attorney, much like the New Jersey public defender, asked for the public’s patience and expressed condolences for Guzman-Feliz, theTimesreports.
“The family of my client have expressed that their hearts go out to the victims in this case,” Manuel Portela said. “But we are going to ask for the public to allow the judicial process to take its place and move forward in this case in a way that’s just and fair for my client.”
At Tuesday’s news conference, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said authorities “will literally leave no stone unturned until we make sure that … everyone involved in this incident [is] brought to justice.”
source: people.com
