On June 20, 2018, at 11:30 p.m. (
EDT), 15-year-old Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz left his apartment to meet with a friend. While out, he noticed four vehicles and became alarmed. He began to run and was chased for several blocks by gang members occupying the vehicles. Eventually, Guzman-Feliz sought refuge in a
bodega at Bathgate Avenue and East 183rd Street in
Belmont, Bronx, near his residence. The store owner (and others) witnessed the attack but initially prevented Junior from hiding behind the counter, being at first unsure of precisely what was occurring. After recognizing Junior and seeing his fear, the store owner relented and allowed him behind the counter, The brutal killing had a significant impact upon the bodega owner. The bodega owner claimed in an MTV interview that his mother had a heart attack after viewing the security footage of the attack and died. The bodega owner also claims to have had thoughts of
self-harm and had to seek psychological therapy. The killing was captured on
CCTV video inside the shop, as well as on cell phone video taken from an overhead angle by a resident of one of the building's upper floors. The cell phone video shows a dozen or more males arriving and departing at the scene. Bodega surveillance footage shows several men stabbing Guzman-Feliz with large knives and machetes. The video shows Guzman-Feliz re-entering the store; however, he appeared to be sent outside. The video shows him stumbling out of the bodega and running east on 183rd Street toward
St. Barnabas Hospital, one block away. Cell phone footage showed Guzman-Feliz collapse on a step at a security booth a few yards from the hospital entrance. The video shows witnesses who knew the victim screaming frantically, holding cloths to his wounds, and attempting to console him as he died. Guzman-Feliz died only minutes after the attack at the bodega. According to the boyfriend of Guzman-Feliz's sister, a Trinitario gang leader said on
Snapchat that the killing was due to mistaken identification. Initial reports indicated that authorities considered the possibility that the murder might have been triggered by a sex video shared on Facebook, showing an individual resembling Guzman-Feliz with a young woman who was thought to be a relative of a gang member. A
hashtag, #justiceforjunior, was created and went viral on social media outlets such as
Twitter and
Instagram. Public outrage ensued when the graphic video of Guzman-Feliz's killing began to circulate on the Internet. Police tip lines received a "torrent" of calls from witnesses and other people identifying the suspects. Officers' posts on Twitter and Instagram were shared and viewed over 100,000 times. == Motive ==