Times Square, New York City,
Credit: Reuters Photo
A 15-year-old boy was arrested Friday, accused of shooting a Brazilian tourist in Times Square the night before and then firing twice at a police officer while fleeing the scene, officials said.
The arrest came about an hour after police said at a news conference that they were seeking the teenager, Jesus Alejandro Rivas Figueroa, in the shooting of the tourist, a 37-year-old woman who was hit once in the leg. Her injury was not life-threatening, and she had left the hospital as of Friday afternoon, police said.
Police officials said the teenager was from Venezuela and had been staying at a Manhattan migrant shelter following his arrival in New York in the fall, one person among the tens of thousands of people who have come to the city after crossing into the United States at the southern border.
He was taken into custody in Yonkers, officials said. He is also considered a suspect in an armed robbery in the Bronx and a second shooting in Times Square last month, said John Chell, the Police Department’s chief of patrol.
Figueroa, a second 15-year-old and a 16-year-old were trying to steal items from a JD Sports store on Broadway near West 42nd Street about 7 p.m. Thursday when they were stopped by a female security guard, Chell said at the news conference.
Figueroa pulled out what the chief described as a “very large handgun” and fired at the security guard, striking the tourist in the process. He then ran off, firing at an officer as he went. Given the crowds in the area at the time, officers did not fire back.
“I’ve got to tell you, one of those bullets hits our cop last night, this is a whole different conversation we’re having today,” Chell said. “Our cops showed great restraint not to fire their weapon into a crowd of New Yorkers.”
One of the two teenagers who was with Figueroa was arrested at the scene, police said; the other was arrested Friday morning. All three have been attending the same school, police said. It was unclear Friday whether they had lawyers.
Shootings and other crimes in Times Square typically attract swift and significant attention from police because of the area’s status as one of the world’s busiest shopping and entertainment districts and a magnet for tourists and New Yorkers alike.
The shooting Thursday was the latest in a series of high-profile recent incidents in Times Square.
On Jan. 27, a group of men who police said were migrants got into a brawl on West 42nd Street with two officers who sustained minor injuries. Seven men were arrested as a result of the altercation. They were released after Manhattan prosecutors did not request bail for them, a decision that prompted critics to lash out at the district attorney, Alvin Bragg.
On Thursday, Bragg announced that seven men had been indicted on felony charges for their roles in the melee and that several others had been involved as well. He and other officials said the charges were based in part on video footage that appears to show men kicking officers during the scrum.
But some of the footage released by Bragg’s office raised questions about the official account of how the melee began, showing officers moving to restrain a man who appeared to be following their orders to move along.
On Tuesday, during a live TV segment on Fox News about a supposed migrant-fueled crime wave in the city, the Guardian Angels crime-fighting group tackled a man whom the group’s founder, Curtis Sliwa, identified falsely on air as a migrant who had been shoplifting. Police said Thursday that they were investigating the episode.