A GOOD KID IN BAD SURROUNDINGS ..... INSTEAD OF LOCKING HIM UP, HE SHOULD BE COMPLEMENTED FOR HIS MARKSMANSHIP

Accused 13-year-old Bronx gunman ‘good kid in a bad environment:’ neighbors 

 

By Georgett Roberts and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

 

New York Post

October 14, 2021

 

 

The 13-year-old Bronx boy charged with shooting another teenager was a “super pleasant” kid stuck in a gang-infested neighborhood, shocked neighbors said Thursday.

“He is a good kid in a bad environment,” one neighbor, who asked that he only be identified as Marcus, told The Post. “I never expected that from him. It’s the people he hangs out with. They are older kids.”

Speaking from the Hunts Point building where the alleged shooter’s grandmother lives, Marcus blamed local street gangs for being a bad influence on the teen.

“I’ve never seen another neighborhood like this,” he said. “It could be 4 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon, it’s war. You go up the block, there is war. You go across the bridge, there is war. There are quite a few gangs around here.”

The baby-faced gunman was charged with attempted murder for shooting 13-year-old Jose Peredes on a South Bronx basketball court last week, sending the victim to Harlem Hospital with a wound to his left knee.

Peredes’ mom, Suleykie Rivera, said Wednesday that her son did not know his alleged attacker, and confirmed reports that the two teens had gotten into a Snapchat spat before the Oct. 7 shooting at Hunts Point Playground. 

 

           The suspect’s mother turned him into the NYPD

The alleged gunman’s own mother, who lives in a city homeless shelter in the Mount Hope neighborhood, later turned him in to cops. She hung up on a reporter Thursday.

Neighbors said the teen — who was arraigned in family court and then released to his mother — lived part-time with her at the shelter and also at his grandmother’s apartment.

That’s where residents in the building were shocked to hear about the incident.

“I’m sad about what happened,” Marcus said. “It’s two 13-year-old kids. Are you kidding me?”

Other neighbors described the teen as a short, affable youngster — not a troublemaker — while the building’s super said he was “super pleasant.”

“I can’t believe it,” said one resident. “He is friendly. He says hi to everyone.”