A teenager was arrested for a triple shooting in Manhattan that left two men dead – including a beloved worker at a pizza spot remembered as a “very, very good person.”
The US Marshals Service and NYPD collared the 16-year-old alleged gunman — who law enforcement sources said has no criminal history — at an apartment complex on Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx at about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to police and law enforcement sources.
Authorities hit him with two counts of second-degree murder and two weapons possession charges, police said.
6
It’s still not clear what led to the shooting, or if the alleged shooter knew his victims, according to the NYPD.
The two deceased men — Alejandro Ramirez, 40, and James Michael, 44, both of the Bronx — were shot at about 11:45 p.m. on Sunday near West 207 Street and 10th Avenue in Inwood.
EMS workers rushed both men to local hospitals in critical condition, cops said, but neither survived.
Community members lamented Ramirez’s death on Wednesday, and remembered him fondly as the smiling counter-man at Johnny’s Pizza on Dyckman Street who always gave food to anyone who was hungry.
“Me and my daughter cried for him — he was a very, very good person,” neighbor Dielka Sanchez told The Post. “Whether you had money or not, he always gave you the pizza. He used to say, ‘Friend, don’t worry!’
“It’s very sad,” she continued. “I told my daughter things are getting too bad, I might move.”
6
6
Several teens told the same story, calling Ramirez a “good man” as they gazed at the impromptu, candle-lit street memorial created in his honor.
“He provided uspizza, even when we didn’t have money,” one of the kids said.
A man named Diego, who owns a liquor store on Dyckman, added that Ramirez would come in and buy drinks for the pizza place workers — even though he didn’t drink himself.
“The neighborhood is very sad, because he was loved,” Diego said.
In a Facebook post, the pizza place workers mourned their fallen colleague.
Start and end your day informed with our newsletters
Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories
Thanks for signing up!
“To our dear friend Alex, words cannot describe how shocked and saddened we are that you are no longer with us, taken too soon by senseless violence,” the post said.
“Alex was a great man, a hard worker and a loving friend and father. He always had a smile on his face, and was quick with a joke. A piece of our hearts will always be missing without you. Rest in peace, our dear friend. You will never be forgotten.”
A GoFundMe set up to help Ramirez’s family referenced him as a “loved father, friend and well-known figure in the Inwood community” who had worked at Johnny’s for more than 15 years.
“Alex always had a smile on his face, and was quick with a joke,” the fundraiser said. “Regulars at Johnny’s considered him to be family. We are starting this GoFundMe to help Alex’s family with the cost of burying their beloved father and husband. May he rest in Peace.”
6
6
As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised about $7,500 of its $10,000 goal.
One donor wrote that she nicknamed Alex “Smiley” because of his always-cheerful nature.
“You didn’t even have be in the shop, just walking by, and if you looked in that window, there he was with a wave and smile for you!” the woman wrote. “Our community has lost a special man, who will be sorely missed. Rest In Peace, Smiley.”
No one answered the door Wednesday at the alleged shooter’s Mosholu Parkway address.
But neighbors said the apartment complex is typically a peaceful place.
“The building is usually very quiet, you never hear any activity in the lobbies or outside,” said one elderly lady who lives nearby.
6
Community members also had nothing but vitriol for the alleged teen shooter who cops say snuffed out his life.
“He should be punished as an adult,” Inwood resident Gregorio Bonifacio said. “He should be known as a criminal in New York and not given a chance. Alex was a hardworking man and didn’t deserve what he did.”
Melvin Manuel, a worker at the nearby Mi Esfuerso Grocery, agreed that the kid should be tried as an adult.
“Of course! He knows what he did,” Manuel said. “There needs to be more control — that’s why the youth is losing themselves in these streets.”
