A 15-year-old suspect arrested Friday afternoon by U.S. Marshals after being accused of shooting a tourist in Times Square has been charged as an adult for attempted murder.
Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who arrived in September and has been residing in a city shelter at the Stratford Hotel with his mother.
He was captured on security video Thursday evening, along with another 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, attempting to rob JD Sports, a sneaker and clothing store in Times Square in Manhattan.
According to ABC7, the teens started stealing items from the second floor of the store and placing them in a bag, when they were confronted by a female security guard who took back the stolen items.
Surveillance videos show the teen pull out a handgun and fire at the security guard two times. The bullets missed the security guard but hit a tourist from Brazil, who was in line waiting to buy sneakers, in the leg. The tourist, 38-year-old Taliele Riberio Lemos, has been treated and released from the hospital.
The police then got involved in the situation, Chell explained, “He turns once. He fires towards our officer. Our officer takes his gun out. He cannot return fire, there’s too many people in his way. As the suspect goes through the cut between the buildings, he’s running, he takes his gun out under his armpit, he fires again at our officer. I gotta tell you – one of those bullets hits our cop last night, this is a whole different conversation we’re having today. Our cop showed great restraint not to fire their weapon into crowded New Yorkers.”
Rivas-Figueroa escaped the officers by running into the subway.
He was taken into custody Friday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. at the home of a relative, according to the New York Post.
15-year-old "migrant" from Venezuela cries after being arrested for allegedly shooting a tourist in Times Square and then shooting twice at cops.
Reportedly a suspect in an armed robbery and another shots fired.
What the hell is going on at our border? pic.twitter.com/n0wNxyGFiD
— Glendale Arizona FOP Lodge 12 (@GlendaleFOP12) February 10, 2024
The 16-year-old was also taken into custody. The other 15-year-old was taken into custody, questioned by investigators and subsequently released.
Chell did admit that “some Venezuelan groups of migrants – and I say some, not all – that are affecting crime in our city more so now than when they first got here.”
However, he doubled down on his position against singling out any specific group: “We don’t care who you are, what your status is. We’re not going to broad brush a whole migrant community as being bad people.”
Rivas-Figueroa was charged as an adult with two counts of attempted murder, assault, attempted assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
