The Bronx mom shot to death through her peephole Saturday may have been the victim of a “street justice” gangland hit tied to her older son — who is set to appear in court Monday for a 2014 murder.
Wendy Martinez, 45, was in her Concourse Village apartment around 9:45 p.m. when a masked gunman fired through her apartment door peephole, cops said. Her 14-year-old son hid in a bedroom and called 911.
Cops said Martinez, a hospital worker, was not the intended target, but law enforcement sources say the violence may have been related to her older son, 25-year-old Brian Solano, who faces murder charges for allegedly killing 21-year-old Willie Lora inside Lora’s nearby Bronx apartment on Dec. 8, 2014.
“That’s a gang-related hit,” a source said of Martinez’s death. “This is street justice. Everyone on the streets knows that Solano killed that kid.”
Solano spent nearly three years at Rikers Island and then at Downstate Correctional Facility in upstate Fishkill while awaiting trial for Lora’s death. But he was released in November 2017 pending trial after a private investigator found new evidence that suggested he was innocent, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Meanwhile, neighbors were still reeling Sunday morning from Martinez’s shooting.
“I haven’t slept all night,” said her next-door neighbor, who wouldn’t give his name.
Hector Flores, a resident and maintenance worker, said he doesn’t remember anything like the horrific killing ever happening during the 40 years he’s lived in the building.
“This is a safe building,” said Flores, 54. “No drugs, no people hanging out on the corners. To hear the gunshot and find out something like this happened here, it’s shocking.”
Additional reporting by Tamar Lapin and Max Jaeger