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Young Mom Killed By Stray Bullet Because Of Line-Cutting Argument
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 24, 2011
Modified Aug 24, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 24, 2011
Modified Aug 24, 2011
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A teen was arrested this week in the stray-bullet shooting of a young Bronx mom—and police say that the fatal accident occurred because of a petty argument over line-cutting. Jeffry Ramirez, 19, confessed to mistakenly shooting 24-year-old mom Yaritza Pacheco at a bodega on E. 174th Street early Sunday morning. And it all started because one of Ramirez's friends cut in line of another man: "The guy went and got more people with guns...I went home and got a gun," Ramirez told cops of the incident.
Ramirez's friend cut in front of 23-year-old Leonard Shoulders at the bodega; when Shoulders returned with guns and backup, Ramirez told police he "was afraid of those guys," so he then went and got his own gun, which he had bought for $400 the previous month. Pacheco, a manager at an Applebee's restaurant, had gone to the bodega to get a sandwich, and was walking to meet her boyfriend and 4-year-old daughter when she was hit. Shoulders was also hit in the leg.
Ramirez admitted that he threw the gun in the Bronx River, then booked a one-way JetBlue flight to the Dominican Republic and rushed to JFK, where cops arrested him on the plane. Ramirez has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon
Pacheco's family and friends are devastated by the loss: "She was a very loving mother -- everything centered around her daughter, that's all she lived for. She was a beautiful person, so sweet.'' her friend Angela Applewhite told the Post. Ramirez expressed remorse for the slaying: "I feel very bad about what happened." But his lawyers think that police may have coerced Ramirez to get their confession: "I think there was some inappropriate ... police conduct."
Tagged
bronx
death
guns
line cutting
stray bullet
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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