TWO LATIN KINGS CONVICTED OF FATALLY SHOOTING MAN TO SEND MESSAGE TO RIVAL DRUG DEALER

Defendants Couldn’t Find Target So Shot His Friend Who Happened to Be Sitting on Stoop 

Defendants Found Guilty of Murder, Manslaughter; Could Face Life in Prison

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that two Latin Kings have been convicted of killing a Bronx man whom they happened upon as they sought to shoot a rival drug dealer in 2013. The defendants couldn’t find their target so they shot his 21-year-old friend, to send a message to the dealer to leave their block. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “These defendants came down the street gunning for a rival drug dealer, and when they couldn’t find him they coldly, non-chalantly shot dead a young man who happened to be sitting on a stoop, to send a message. Now two Bronx juries have sent the message that gun violence will not be tolerated by convicting these gang members of charges that carry up to life in prison.” 

 District Attorney Clark said that Jason DeJesus, 31, of 3662 Bronx Boulevard, was convicted of second-degree Murder and second-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon on November 3, 2017 and Hector Rodriguez, 39, of 2240 Ryer Avenue, was convicted of firstdegree Manslaughter and Criminal Facilitation on November 8, 2017. They were convicted by separate juries after a two-month trial before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary.

 Rodriguez will be sentenced on November 29, 2017, and as a discretionary persistent felony offender he could face life in prison. DeJesus will be sentenced on January 10, 2018, and faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

 According to the investigation, at about 11 p.m. on May 20, 2013, Marcos Cabral, 21, was found lying outside 287 East 162nd Street near Morris Avenue in Melrose with two fatal gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

 According to the investigation, Rodriguez, a First-Crown Latin King, was told by another gang member, Edwin Colon, that Colon was having trouble on East 162nd Street and Morris Avenue with a marijuana dealer who was selling there, and the gang had to push back.

 DeJesus, Rodriguez and Colon went to the block and DeJesus fired five shots at Cabral, who was eating Chinese takeout food on the stoop. 

 Colon pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Weapon on October 12, 2017 and will be sentenced to 11 years in prison.

 District Attorney Clark thanked Detective Al Crawford of the 44th Precinct Detective Squad and the Bronx Homicide Task Force for their work on the case.