MOTT HAVEN, The Bronx (WABC) — Police have made an arrest in the Bronx double shooting that claimed the life of one innocent bystander and injured another.
Enriqueta Rivera, 71, was waiting to cross the street with her back turned when gunfire erupted in broad daylight at the corner of E. 139th Street and Brook Avenue on Sept. 14th. One of the bullets struck her in the back and pierced her heart. She died at the hospital.
Police arrested and charged 21-year-old Joshua Evans with murder and attempted murder in connection to the incident.
The suspect was found hiding at a relative’s home in Mount Vernon.
Family and friends of Rivera appeared at the precinct in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx Monday to deliver the following message: “Whatever you do on this earth, you pay on this earth. Justice will be served for my mother. Everyone will know her name: Enriqueta Rivera Melendez.”
Another woman, Albertina Reyes, 34, was also shot in the left arm as she was standing with a friend. She is expected to survive her injuries.
It did not take police long to arrest Evans for murder early Monday morning. Records show he has a prior arrest for robbery.
“If you carry an illegal firearm, if you recklessly pull the trigger, if you harm anyone in our city, the NYPD will find you,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban.
According to police, the intended targets in the shooting were rival gang members.
“Two males got into a dispute. One of the males pulled out a firearm and fired multiple shots at the other,” Asst. Chief Benjamin Gurley of the NYPD Patrol Bureau Bronx said after the incident on Thursday. “Those bullets struck two innocent people standing out on the street.”
The recent gang violence appears to involve rival residents of the Mitchell and the Mott Haven Houses, with most of the suspects being suspected gang members in their teens and 20s. The motive appears to be nothing more than long standing differences passed down through generations.
While the victim’s family applauds the swift police work, they are now left with crushing pain of losing someone so full of joy.
“When you remember my mother, smile because she was the happiest person on this earth,” said the victim’s daughter Neliza Rivera.
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