New York police said multiple arrests have been made in connection with Wednesday’s mistaken-identity murder of a 15-year-old Bronx teen who was repeatedly stabbed outside a local deli.
Police announced Sunday night that they’ve arrested Kevin Alvarez, 19, and charged him with murder, manslaughter, gang assault, and assault. At the time, New York authorities said charges are pending against the four other suspects they have in custody.
Lesandro Guzman-Feliz’s loved ones and parents of the slain teen’s friends hurled insults at Alvarez as he was escorted out of a Bronx police precinct late Sunday, according to the New York Daily News.
“Chupacabra! F**k you!” one of the women yelled “You a*****e! He was just a baby!”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, surveillance cameras captured several men grab Guzman-Feliz out of a Belmont bodega and hack him to death with machetes. In a last bid to save his own life, the 15-year-old ran two blocks away to St. Barnabas Hospital as he bled to death.
Unsettling footage caught a frantic scene as a blood-soaked Guzman-Feliz, affectionately known as Junior, took his last breaths on a nearby sidewalk.
READ More: Violent murder caught on video: Teen fatally stabbed in brutal machete attack
Cops now suspect that the men were carrying out revenge on who they thought was captured on a sex tape involving a teen girl. However, Guzman-Feliz’s brother told the Daily News said they received several messages from men proclaiming to be members of a Dominican gang apologizing for killing the teen in error.
WABC reported that police in New Jersey named six other people arrested in connection with the slaying and announced they’ll be extradited to New York City, pending a hearing. Their identities are as follows:
- Jose Muniz, 21, of Paterson
- Jose Taverez, 21, of the Bronx
- Manuel Rivera, 18, of the Bronx
- Danel Fernandez, 21, of the Bronx
- Joniki Martinez, 24, of Freeport
- Santiago Rodriguez, 24, of the Bronx
“I don’t really feel happy. They have to pay for what they did. They killed an innocent little child,” the victim’s mother, Leandra Feliz, said of the arrests to the Daily News.
“The only thing I want is my son back, and I’m not going to have him anymore.”
[Featured Image: Lesandro Guzman-Feliz/Facebook]
