A third suspect has been busted in connection to the slaying of a “completely innocent” man during a botched gang hit in the Bronx, authorities said.
Jayran Liranzo, 19, was picked up by the Bronx Warrants Squad at 3 p.m. Tuesday and charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon for his involvement in the Oct. 24 shooting death of 21-year-old Saiko Koma, cops said.
Koma was shot in the head around 8:45 p.m. Oct. 24 on Ryer Avenue near East 182nd Street in Fordham Heights — by a crew who sought payback for the beating of one of their own by a rival gang, according to cops and police sources.
Law enforcement sources said last month that the group may have mistaken Koma for a member of the rival gang — or was simply out for blood — but insisted that the victim was “a completely innocent kid.”
Liranzo has no apparent gang affiliation, and was busted once before — as a juvenile in 2018 — for grand larceny, police sources said.
Steven Mendez, 17, the first suspect arrested, is a reputed gang member who was once even busted for allegedly pulling a gun on his own mom, according to police sources.
He could have been kept behind bars for up to four years after pleading guilty to charges stemming from his role as an accomplice in a violent July 2020 armed robbery, according to officials and law enforcement sources.
Instead, the reputed teen gang member was freed on five years’ probation in May at the judge’s discretion.
Samson Walston, 22, aka Bam Balla, a member of the 183 Street YG gang, was busted on Nov. 14 in connection to the botched gang hit.
Walston, who was on probation until 2026 for first-degree gang assault, was carrying a satchel that contained 214 vials of crack when he was arrested, police sources said.