‘Armed and dangerous’ teen migrant from Venezuela cries after arrest over chaotic Times Square shooting that injured tourist
A 15-year-old migrant suspected of shooting a tourist and firing at a police officer in a robbery-gone-wrong in Times Square was arrested on Friday, authorities said.
The US Marshals Joint Regional Fugitive Task Force and the NYPD tracked Venezuelan teen Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa down in Yonkers less than 24 hours after Thursday’s mayhem at the Crossroads of the World.
Photos obtained by The Post showed the young suspect, wearing a dark T-shirt, jeans and a gold necklace, being taken into custody at around 3:30 p.m. at what sources said was the home of a relative on Saratoga Avenue.
“He was crying. When he was apprehended, he was crying… Here he is committing these adult acts, that’s something you don’t expect a child to do, and then when he’s apprehended, he’s brought out in handcuffs crying,” NYPD spokesman Carlos Nieves told reporters.
He will most likely be charged as a juvenile with attempted murder of a police officer, Nieves said, noting the case will then either go to criminal or family court.
The arrest came moments after NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, during a press conference, had identified Rivas-Figueroa as the “armed and dangerous” person of interest in the shooting.
The teen arrived in September and had been staying at a temporary shelter at the Stratford Hotel on West 70th Street, Chell told reporters.
He is also a suspect in a gunpoint robbery in the Bronx from Jan. 27, and another incident in which shots were fired at a park on 45th Street in Midtown on Jan. 25, police said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether he would also be charged for those incidents.
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban commended his force for nabbing Rivas-Figueroa “less than 24 hours” after his reign of terror.
“If you think you attack a member of this department, if you think you could threaten the lives of the very people who keep us safe. If you think you could put others at deadly risk and get away with it, then think again,” Caban said at a Friday evening press conference. “We will never stop pursuing you. We will find you, and we will arrest you.”
Police said Rivas-Figueroa and two other teens — all migrants who attended school together — were trying to shoplift from JD Sports, a sports-fashion retail store, on West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue at around 7 p.m. when they were stopped by a security guard.
Rivas-Figueroa allegedly pulled out a “very large” .45-caliber handgun and fired “at her into a crowd,” Chell said.
The guard wasn’t hit, but a 38-year-old Brazilian tourist, Tatiele Riberio, who was in line waiting to buy sneakers and texting her husband. She was struck in the leg and dragged herself to the back of the store as chaos ensued.
The gunman and another 15-year-old boy bolted, with Rivas-Figueroa allegedly opening fire on a cop as he ran away toward West 46th Street, Chell said.
“He had no problems firing into a crowd at a store… and not shooting at cops once, but shooting at them twice,” Chell said.
“And I gotta tell you, [if] one of those bullets hits our cop last night, this is a whole different conversation we’re having today,” he added.
“Our cops showed great restraint not to fire their weapons into a crowd of New Yorkers.”
Video footage shows Rivas-Figueroa, who was in an all-white outfit, and the other teen bolting from the store, Chell said.
Cops patrolling the area began chasing them, with one of the officers snatching the unidentified teen and the other continuing to run after the gunman.
“He turns once, he fires towards our officer,” Chell told reporters of Rivas-Figueroa. “Our officer takes his gun out and he cannot return fire, there are too many people in his way.
“Our suspect goes through the cut between the buildings. He’s running, he takes his gun out and under his armpit he fires again at our officer,” Chell continued, as he demonstrated how the shooter reached behind his back with the gun.
MTA video footage then showed the suspect bolting into the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station at Sixth Avenue, where he went on the tracks before emerging and escaping onto the street, Chell said.
The innocent shopper who was shot got 13 stitches to her leg at Bellevue Hospital and was released. She was set to head home to Brazil on Saturday.
Here's the latest on the Times Square shooting
- NYPD has identified Jesus Lejenadro Rivas-Figueroa, 15, as the suspect connected to the Thursday night shooting, Chief of Patrol John Chell said.
- Prosecutors asked the judge to send the teen to jail without bail because “he has significant ties out of the United States” and has only been here “for a short time.”
- The teen, who did not enter a plea, was charged as an adult, but will be sent to a juvenile facility because of his age, officials said.
- A tourist was shot in the leg at a retail store in Times Square on Thursday night by a shoplifter. The shoplifter then opened fire at an NYPD officer in Midtown, according to police.
- A security guard at JD Sports at West 42 Street and Broadway approached a group of young males to stop them from stealing when one pulled out a gun, fired it in her direction, and missed, hitting the nearby tourist.
- Sources said Friday that the 15-year-old and a third person were taken into custody and later released.
Investigators interviewed “hundreds” of witnesses, collected surveillance footage, ballistics evidence and obtained “pristine photos” of the shooter, police said.
Cops nabbed a 16-year-old boy believed to have been with Rivas-Figueroa in the store on Friday morning, and he and the other 15-year-old were in custody as investigators worked to determine what role they played in the incident, Chell said.
“The state of this police department is we don’t care who you are, what your status is,” he said, referring to the three teens being migrants.
“We’re not going to go and broad brush a whole migrant community as being bad people… our concern, the community’s concern is to take this armed and dangerous juvenile off the streets,” Chell said.
Authorities said Rivas-Figueroa was with his mother when they found him at a home on Saratoga Avenue.
Ralph Sozio, the US Marshal for the Southern District of New York, hailed the quick arrest, and said “Anyone that commits these acts of violence in our city against anyone, especially law enforcement officers, be assured we will use every resource available to find you and bring you to justice.”
Staff at the Stratford Hotel told The Post they believe Rivas-Figueroa’s family left the shelter sometime Friday morning.
Nieves said security there is handled by a private contractor and there are no metal detectors.
Other residents were shocked by the allegations against Rivas-Figueroa.
“Why would he shoot someone? He’s a quiet boy. He’s always at the church just around the corner with his mom,” said an Ecuadorian migrant, who works as a painter in The Bronx and declined to give his name.
“I said hi to his mother just yesterday,” he said, adding that Rivas-Figueroa is an only child.
But another resident painted a different picture of Rivas-Figueroa, claiming he once tried to fight her son.
“He lives on my floor. And wanted to fight my son over a girlfriend,” said Valeria Mendez, 35, who works as a waitress in Queens.
Mendez said she advised her son to stay away Rivas-Figueroa.
Additional reporting by Max Rivera, Larry Celona and Patrick Reilly
