FORMER NYPD POLICE OFFICER INDICTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER IN
FATAL SHOOTING OF FRIEND
Victim Died After Defendant’s Off-Duty Gun Was Discharged;
Defendant Did Not Perform Life-Saving Measures
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a former NYPD Police
Officer has been indicted in the fatal shooting of his next-door neighbor in the neighbor’s
apartment in the Bronx. The defendant initially said that the victim was playing with the firearm
and accidentally shot himself, but an autopsy showed the gunshot was not self-inflicted.
District Attorney Clark said, “The victim, who was friends with the defendant, was
recklessly killed by a single gunshot near the neck. The defendant was an NYPD Police Officer
for approximately one year at the time of the incident, which occurred when he was off-duty. He
allegedly did not seek immediate help and a young man died.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Martinson Afari Yeboah, 28, who was assigned
to Housing Police Service Area 7 in the Bronx, was arraigned today on second-degree
Manslaughter and Criminally Negligent Homicide before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret
Clancy. Bail was set at $100,000 bond/$25,000 cash and $75,000 partially secured bond. The
defendant must also surrender his passport. He is due back in court on January 15, 2019.
According to the investigation, at about 5:25 a.m. on April 21, 2019, Yeboah, who was offduty, was in the apartment of Frederick Afoakwah, 21, on West Mosholu Parkway South. The
defendant and the victim were playing soccer video games when Yeboah’s off-duty firearm, a 9-
mm semi-automatic pistol, discharged, striking Afoakwah. After the gunshot rang out, the
victim’s father and cousin came out of their bedroom and saw the victim dying, and Yeboah
allegedly told them there was an accident.
According to the investigation, Yeboah did not call 911 until the victim’s father urged him
to do so. The defendant went to his apartment, left his firearm there and changed his shoes. Instead
of going back to the victim’s apartment to perform life-saving procedures, the defendant went to the building’s lobby to wait for first responders. The victim was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital
where he was pronounced dead.
The defendant’s employment with the NYPD has been terminated since the incident
District Attorney Clark thanked Assistant District Attorney Brian Connor and Trial
Preparation Assistant Alexandra Ragusa, both of the Public Integrity Bureau, for their assistance
in the investigation. District Attorney Clark also thanked NYPD Sergeant Emanuel Vizzotti and
NYPD Detective Clayton Barnett of the Force Investigation Division for their assistance.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
MAN INDICTED FOR MURDER FOR STABBING WIFE
IN THEIR APARTMENT IN HOMELESS SHELTER
Killing Happened with Their Two Babies Present
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a man has been indicted for
Murder, Manslaughter and other charges for stabbing his wife to death inside a Bronx homeless
shelter.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly stabbed his 19-year-old wife in their
apartment in a homeless shelter, where their toddler and infant were present. It was a shocking
and traumatizing incident for the staff and other people in the building. We must do all we can to
prevent these horrendous acts of domestic violence.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Ernesto Valerio, 24, was arraigned today on
second-degree Murder, first-degree Manslaughter, Criminal Possession of a Weapon and two
counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret
Clancy. The defendant was remanded and is due back in court on January 16, 2020.
According to the investigation, on October 2, 2019, the defendant allegedly stabbed his
wife, Emilsy Calix, 19, in the face, neck and chest with a kitchen knife in their apartment in 285
East 171st Street. The couple’s two-year-old daughter and five-months-old daughter were present.
Security guards in the shelter heard screams and went to the apartment. The defendant told them
his wife went to the store and one of the children had fallen. As the guards went to the lobby to
check the sign-out book the defendant left the scene, leaving his two children at the shelter. The
guards returned to the couple’s apartment and found the body of the victim in the bathtub. The
defendant fled and was arrested that night in the Bronx.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Christopher Napoli and
Andre Smith of the 44
th Precinct Squad and NYPD Detective Keith Walker of Bronx Homicide
for their assistance in the case.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
BRONX PASTOR INDICTED FOR MURDER; RAN OVER ESTRANGED WIFE
WITH CAR AND ATTACKED HER WITH MACHETE
Killing Happened in Front of Victim’s Two Grandchildren
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Yonkers man has been
indicted for Murder, Manslaughter and other charges for running over his estranged wife with a
vehicle and stabbing her with a machete in front her two grandchildren on a Bronx street.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant cruelly attacked his wife, from whom he had
been estranged for approximately a month, in front her two young grandchildren. The defendant
allegedly struck her with his own vehicle, then ran her over with her car, and stabbed her with a
machete. We will pursue justice for the victim, as well as her family members who have been
deeply traumatized by the terrible attack.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Victor Mateo, 63, of 4 Eastman Place, Yonkers,
N.Y., a pastor at the Christian Congregation The Redeemer Church in the Bronx, was arraigned
today on second-degree Murder and first-degree Manslaughter, three counts of fourth-degree
Criminal Possession of a Weapon and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child before
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy. The defendant was remanded and is due back in
court on January 22, 2020.
According to the investigation, at about 6:45 a.m. on October 3, 2019, the defendant parked
his vehicle near the home of Noelia Mateo, 58, on Ellsworth Avenue in Throgs Neck. When the
victim came out to drive her grandchildren to school the defendant allegedly struck her with his
vehicle. The victim hid beneath her car, and the defendant got into her car and allegedly ran her
over with it. Then he allegedly hacked her with a machete. The victim’s 11-year-old grandson
and 9-year-old granddaughter witnessed the attack.
The defendant fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle. He was arrested on October 10, 2019
in Hazelton, Pennsylvania and was extradited to the Bronx.
District Attorney Clark thanked Assistant District Attorneys Allison Kline, Megan Leo,
Jean Paul Rivera, Heather McMahon and Bryson Gillard of the Domestic Violence Bureau, and
Danielle Pascale, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, for their
assistance in the case. District Attorney Clark also thanked NYPD Detective Francis Orlando
from Bronx Homicide and NYPD Detectives Kristopher Persaud and Erica Price of the 45
th
Precinct for their assistance in the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
