Murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz

Last updated
Murder of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz
LocationIntersection of Bathgate Avenue and East 183rd Street, New York City (Belmont, Bronx), US
Coordinates 40°51′17″N73°53′30″W / 40.8547°N 73.8918°W / 40.8547; -73.8918
DateJune 20, 2018(6 years ago) (2018-06-20)
Attack type
 Machete attack, stabbing, gang violence
Deaths1
No. of participants
14 suspects (all convicted)

The murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz occurred on June 20, 2018; the 15-year-old was killed by members of the Dominican-American gang Trinitarios in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx. The death occurred in a case of mistaken identity. Public outrage arose when graphic video of the murder began to circulate on the Internet. Fourteen suspects, all members of the Trinitario gang, were arrested in connection with Guzman-Feliz's death.

Contents

Murder

On June 20, 2018, at 11:30 p.m. (EDT), 15-year-old Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz left his apartment to meet with a friend. [1] While out, he noticed four vehicles and became alarmed. He began to run and was chased for several blocks by gang members occupying the vehicles. [2] Eventually, Guzman-Feliz sought refuge in a bodega at Bathgate Avenue and East 183rd Street in Belmont, Bronx, near his residence. The store owner (and others) witnessed the attack [3] but initially prevented Junior from hiding behind the counter, being at first unsure of precisely what was occurring. [4] After recognizing Junior and seeing his fear, the store owner relented and allowed him behind the counter, [4] but Junior was nevertheless spotted by one of the gang members, who then proceeded to drag him outside, where three others waited. [5]

The brutal killing had a significant impact upon the bodega owner. The bodega owner's mother had a heart attack after viewing the security footage of the attack and died. The bodega owner had thoughts of self-harm and had to seek psychological therapy. [6]

The killing was captured on CCTV video inside the shop, as well as on cell phone video taken from an overhead angle by a resident of one of the building's upper floors. The cell phone video shows a dozen or more males arriving and departing at the scene. Bodega surveillance footage shows several men stabbing Guzman-Feliz with large knives and machetes. [7] The video shows Guzman-Feliz re-entering the store; however, he appeared to be sent outside. The video shows him stumbling out of the bodega and running east on 183rd Street toward St. Barnabas Hospital, one block away. Cell phone footage showed Guzman-Feliz collapse on a step at a security booth a few yards from the hospital entrance. The video shows witnesses who knew the victim screaming frantically, holding cloths to his wounds, and attempting to console him as he died. Guzman-Feliz' died only minutes after the attack at the bodega. [8] [9]

According to the boyfriend of Guzman-Feliz's sister, a Trinitario gang leader said on Snapchat that the killing was a case of mistaken identity. Initial reports indicated that authorities considered the possibility that the murder might have been triggered by a sex video shared on Facebook, showing an individual resembling Guzman-Feliz with a young woman who was thought to be a relative of a gang member. [10]

A hashtag, #justiceforjunior, was created and went viral on social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram. Public outrage ensued when the graphic video of Guzman-Feliz's killing began to circulate on the Internet. [11] Police tip lines received a "torrent" of calls from witnesses and other people identifying the suspects. Officers' posts on Twitter and Instagram were shared and viewed over 100,000 times. [12]

Motive

The killing of Guzman-Feliz was purportedly a case of mistaken identity of a teen who was part of a rival gang. The police reported that the killers, all members of the Trinitarios subset "Los Sures", mistakenly believed that Guzman-Feliz was a member of the rival "Sunset" gang. Bronx County District Attorney Darcel Clark said that Guzman-Feliz had no ties to any gang activity. [13]

Victim

Lesandro Guzman-Feliz memorial at the corner of Bathgate Avenue and 183rd Street Lesandro Guzman-Feliz memorial IMG 8060 HLG.jpg
Lesandro Guzman-Feliz memorial at the corner of Bathgate Avenue and 183rd Street

Lesandro Guzman-Feliz (November 11, 2002 – June 20, 2018), known as "Junior", was 15 years old at the time of his death. His family included: his father, Lisandro Guzman; his mother, Leandra Feliz; his older sister, Genesis Collado-Feliz; and his brother, Manuel Ortiz. [14] He attended the Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health & Science Charter School, where he was a sophomore. [15] He was of Dominican descent. [16]

Guzman-Feliz aspired to become a detective [17] and was a member of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Explorers program, a group for youths interested in law enforcement careers. [18] His funeral, at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Bronx, was attended by thousands. Pallbearers were attired in New York Yankees jerseys as a nod to Guzman-Feliz's favorite baseball team. [19] He was interred in Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx. [20]

After his death, the NYPD established a scholarship in Guzman-Feliz's name. [21] The corner of Bathgate Avenue and 183rd Street, where Guzman-Feliz was killed, was ceremonially renamed "Lesandro Junior Guzman-Feliz Way" in February 2019, on his mother's birthday. [22] [23]

Perpetrators and suspects

Memorial to Lesandro Guzman-Feliz across the street from the St. Barnabas Hospital entrance Lesandro Guzman-Feliz memorial IMG 2832 HLG.jpg
Memorial to Lesandro Guzman-Feliz across the street from the St. Barnabas Hospital entrance

Fourteen suspects were arrested in connection with Guzman-Feliz's death. All were members of the Dominican gang Trinitario and between the age of 18 and 29. [24] [25] [26]

Police alleged Suero to be the ringleader, who ordered the murder of Guzman-Feliz. [24] Officers also claimed that Martinez-Estrella delivered the fatal blow to Guzman-Feliz. [27]

Four of the suspects (Fernandez, Muniz, Rivera, and Hernandez) were incarcerated at Rikers Island and received death threats, even from other members of the Trinitario gang, while awaiting trial. Jail officials segregated them from other prisoners and they received heightened security protection at the jail. [28] In December 2018, while detained at Rikers Island, Rivera received a slash wound on his face from a fellow inmate. The suspect was allegedly a rival gang member. [29] Michael Sosa Reyes, a former suspect, was a cooperating witness. [30]

Trial verdict

Nearly a full year after Guzman-Feliz was killed outside of the Bronx bodega, five accused suspects were convicted of his murder. In a Bronx courtroom on June 14, 2019, a jury convicted Jonaiki Martinez Estrella, Manuel Rivera, Elvin Garcia, Jose Muniz and Antonio Rodriguez Hernandez of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, gang assault, and conspiracy. [31] By also convicting the defendants of first-degree murder, the jury acknowledged that Guzman-Feliz was tortured before his death. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Amadou Diallo</span> 1999 police shooting of a Guinean-American man

In the early hours of February 4, 1999, an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student named Amadou Diallo was fired upon with 41 rounds and shot a total of 19 times by four New York City Police Department plainclothes officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss. Carroll later claimed to have mistaken Diallo for a rape suspect from one year earlier.

Five Points Correctional Facility (FPCF) is a maximum security state prison for men located in Romulus, New York, and operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Five Points is known as a supermax prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Raymond's Cemetery (Bronx)</span> Catholic cemetery in Bronx, New York City, US

Saint Raymond's Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery at 2600 Lafayette Avenue in the Throggs Neck and Schuylerville sections of the Bronx, New York City, United States. The cemetery is composed of two separate locations: the older section, and the newer section, both east of the Hutchinson River Parkway. The Bronx–Whitestone Bridge is located adjacent to the cemetery's newer section, while the neighboring Throgs Neck Bridge can be seen from a distance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime in New York City</span>

Crime rates in New York City have been recorded since at least the 1800s. The highest crime totals were recorded in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged, and then declined continuously from around 1990 throughout the 2000s. As of 2023, New York City has significantly lower rates of gun violence than many other large cities. Its 2022 homicide rate of 6.0 per 100,000 residents compares favorably to the rate in the United States as a whole and to rates in much more violent cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo</span> Mexican Catholic bishop (1926–1993)

Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo was an archbishop of the Catholic Church in Mexico who served as the eighth archbishop of the see of Guadalajara and as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Rashawn Brazell</span> Unsolved murder case of an American man

In late February 2005, the dismembered body parts of 19-year-old Rashawn Brazell were found in garbage bags strewn throughout the New York City borough of Brooklyn after he disappeared from his home in the Bushwick neighborhood. He had left in the morning of February 14 to meet his accountant and then meet his mother for lunch in Manhattan. At 7:30 that morning, an unknown person rang the apartment building's security buzzer and Brazell went down to meet him. According to other witnesses, Brazell met a man outside his Brooklyn apartment and the two men entered the subway together at the Gates Avenue station. Witnesses believe the two exited at the Nostrand Avenue station in Bedford–Stuyvesant a short time later. Brazell was never seen alive again.

Jeffrey Harris Lichtman is a New York-based criminal defense lawyer.

Upstate Correctional Facility is a maximum security state prison for men in Franklin County, New York, US. The prison, in the Town of Malone, was the first New York State prison built as a supermax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belmont, Bronx</span> Neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City

Belmont is a primarily residential neighborhood in the Bronx in New York City. Its boundaries are Fordham Road to the north, Bronx Park to the east, East 181st Street to the south, and Third Avenue to the west. These boundaries give the neighborhood a crescent-like shape. The neighborhood is noted for its "close-knit community" and "small-town feel", and as a result of its cultural history and wide array of Italian businesses, is widely known as the "Little Italy of the Bronx". Arthur Avenue, noted for its local restaurants and markets, is its primary thoroughfare.

The East Harlem Purple Gang was a gang and organized crime group in New York City consisting of Italian-American hit-men and heroin dealers who were semi-independent from the Italian-American Mafia and, according to federal prosecutors, dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem, Italian Harlem, and the Bronx during the 1970s and early 1980s. Though mostly independent of the Mafia and not an official Mafia crew, the gang was originally affiliated with and worked with the Lucchese crime family and later with the Bonanno crime family and Genovese crime family. It developed its "closest ties" with the Genovese family, and its remnants or former members became part of the Genovese family's 116th Street Crew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MS-13</span> Transnational criminal gang

Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area. Over time, the gang grew into a more traditional criminal organization. MS-13 has a longtime rivalry with the 18th Street gang.

Dominicans Don't Play (143) is a Dominican-American street gang started in Manhattan, New York in 1991. They are known for primarily using machetes and knives as weapons. DDP is located across New York City, particularly in the Bronx, Harlem and the Lower East Side. They are also located in New Jersey, cities such as like Union City, North Bergen, Paterson, Passaic, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Perth Amboy, and South Amboy. They are also located overseas in various countries.

The Trinitarios is a Dominican American criminal organization founded by Dominicans in New York City, New York in 1993.

The Tanglewood Boys was an Italian-American recruitment gang or "farm team" for the American Mafia, specifically the Lucchese crime family. The gang frequently operated from the Tanglewood Shopping Center in Yonkers, New York.

Patrick J. Lynch is a New York City Police Department officer, and the former president of its union, the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, which he has served for six consecutive terms in office. He retired as union president at the end of June 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Ramarley Graham</span> 2012 police killing of a black man in New York City

The killing of Ramarley Graham took place in the borough of the Bronx in New York City on February 2, 2012. Richard Haste, a New York Police Department officer, shot Graham in the bathroom of the latter's apartment. The 18-year-old Graham was in possession of marijuana when Officer Haste tried to stop him on the street. Graham fled to his grandmother’s house, and went into the bathroom to flush the marijuana. Officer Haste forced his way into the building, kicked down the front door and then broke down the bathroom where he shot Ramarley Graham to death. Haste could be seen on surveillance cameras smiling and laughing with the responding officers and detectives—the same men who would later testify they had told Haste that Graham had a gun. Haste claimed to believe Graham had been reaching for a gun in his waistband, but no weapon was recovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Barnabas Hospital (Bronx)</span> Hospital in New York, United States

St Barnabas Hospital is a non-profit teaching hospital founded in 1866. The hospital is located in the Belmont neighborhood of The Bronx in New York City. It is a level II adult trauma center and is a major clinical affiliate for clinical clerkship of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Tessa Majors</span> Murder of a college student in New York City

The murder of Tessa Majors occurred near Morningside Park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, on December 11, 2019. Majors, an eighteen-year-old student at Barnard College, was attacked and stabbed by three teenagers as part of a robbery. Majors was discovered collapsed and bleeding on a staircase exiting Morningside Park and transported to a nearby hospital, ultimately succumbing to the injuries.

<i>In Plain Sight</i> (Casey book)

In Plain Sight: The Kaufman County Prosecutor Murders is a true crime account by American journalist and author Kathryn Casey of the 2013 murders of two prosecutors and a wife by a disgruntled justice of the peace. William Morrow released the book in March 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Lives Matter protests in New York City</span> Anti-racism protests in New York City

New York City has been the site of many Black Lives Matter protests in response to incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The Black Lives Matter movement began as a hashtag after the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin, and became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Garner was killed in the Staten Island borough of New York City, leading to protests, demonstrations, and work towards changes in policing and the law. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, the global response included extensive protests in New York City, and several subsequent changes to policy.

References

  1. ↑ "'His Dream Was To Be A Police Officer:' Friends, Family Mourn Teen Fatally Stabbed In Apparent Case Of Mistaken Identity In The Bronx". CBS New York. June 23, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  2. ↑ Murphy, Mary (July 2, 2018). "EXCLUSIVE: Videos public hasn't seen show 'Junior' was chased for blocks before he was trapped in Bronx bodega". WPIX 11 New York. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  3. ↑ Kim, CeFaan (June 24, 2018). "Family calls for boycott of bodega where teen was fatally stabbed". ABC7 New York. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Chung, Jen (July 2018). "Bronx Bodega Owner Says He Tried To Shield Lesandro Guzman-Feliz; Video Released". Gothamist. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  5. ↑ Villeda, Ray (June 29, 2018). "Bodega Owner Tearfully Recalls Machete Victim: 'So Scared'". NBC New York. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  6. ↑ "gang target or mistaken identity?". MTV.com. January 15, 2020. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020.
  7. ↑ Woods, Amanda; Moore, Tina; Musumeci, Natalie (June 22, 2018). "The moment a teen is pulled out of a store and fatally stabbed". New York Post. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  8. ↑ "NYPD reviewing video of Guzman-Feliz collapsing outside hospital". News 12 The Bronx. June 29, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ Parascandola, Rocco; Rayman, Graham; Tracy, Thomas (June 28, 2018). "NYPD probing whether cops sat by as dying teen bled out in Bronx machete attack". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  10. ↑ Moore, Tina; Roberts, Georgett (June 23, 2018). "Gang leader 'sorry' after innocent teen is butchered in street". New York Post. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  11. ↑ Rayman, Graham; Light, Mikey (June 23, 2018). "Murderous gang apologizes for brutal machete slaying of Bronx teen, victim's relative says". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  12. ↑ Southall, Ashley; Ferré-Sadurní, Luis (June 24, 2018). "'Disgusted' by Video of Fatal Stabbing of Teen, Callers Flood Police Tip Line". The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  13. ↑ "12 suspects in Bronx teen's murder appear in court". FOX New York. July 18, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  14. ↑ Njoroge, Moses (July 19, 2018). "Lesandro Guzman-Feliz Bio, Biography, Age, Sister, Mother, Stabbing Video and Death (15 Years Old)". Glob Intel. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  15. ↑ Wicker, Jewel (June 26, 2018). "Hundreds Gathered at a Bronx Bodega to Remember Slain Teen". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  16. ↑ "Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz, el dominicano de 15 años asesinado a machetazos en el Bronx cuya muerte estremece a Estados Unidos". BBC News (in Spanish). June 30, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  17. ↑ "Friends, family honor the life of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz". News 12. June 27, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Farewell to 'Junior': Funeral for slain Bronx teen". FOX 5 NY. June 27, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  19. ↑ Wicker, Jewel (June 28, 2018). "Thousands of People Attended Bronx Teen Lesandro Guzman Feliz's Funeral". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  20. ↑ Fenton, Reuven; Eustachewich, Lia (June 27, 2018). "Hundreds attend funeral for innocent teen viciously killed by gang". New York Post. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  21. ↑ Steinbuch, Yaron (June 29, 2018). "NYPD to honor slain Bronx teen with scholarship in his name". New York Post. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  22. ↑ Cavallier, Andrea; Murphy, Mary (February 27, 2019). "Bronx street dedicated to 'Junior' on mom's birthday: 'It's something that will make him feel close to me'". WPIX 11 New York. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Justice for Junior: Street in the Bronx renamed in honor of slain Bronx teen Junior Guzman-Feliz". ABC7 New York. February 27, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  24. 1 2 Celona, Larry; Taylor, Alex; Musumeci, Natalie (July 6, 2018). "Eleventh suspect arrested in killing of Bronx teen". New York Post. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  25. ↑ Murphy, Mary; Cavallier, Andrea (July 9, 2018). "12th – and final – suspect wanted in 'Junior' killing arrested in Connecticut". WPIX 11 New York. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  26. ↑ "8th arrest in fatal stabbing of Bronx teenager outside bodega". CBS News. June 26, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  27. ↑ "7of 8 suspects appear in court in brutal murder of innocent 15-year-old boy". WABC-TV. June 28, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  28. ↑ Celona, Larry; Moore, Tina; Logan, Shari (July 3, 2018). "'Everybody wants a piece' of jailed gangbangers accused of killing Bronx teen". New York Post. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  29. ↑ Blau, Reuven (December 11, 2018). "Suspect in Bronx teen's murder slashed in the face at Rikers Island by rival gang member". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  30. ↑ Murphy, Mary (September 18, 2018). "The Junior Files Part 1: New videos show Bronx teen trying to outrun gang street chase". WPIX 11 New York. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  31. ↑ Chasan, Aliza; Cavallier, Andrea; Ford, James (14 June 2019). "Justice comes for Junior: Jury finds 5 gang members GUILTY of first-degree murder in clean-sweep verdict". PIX 11 News. Tribune Broadcasting. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  32. ↑ Crane-Newman, Molly; McShane, Larry (14 June 2019). "Verdict in Lesandro 'Junior' Guzman-Feliz trial: All five defendants found guilty of first-degree murder in case that broke city's heart". New York Daily News. Tribune Publishing Company. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.