Gang teen charged in ’16 stray-shot horror
A TEENAGE member of the gang Dominicans Don’t Play was charged Wednesday with firing the bullet that killed a Bronx mother of three who was sitting on a park bench.
Wandy Tejada, 17, faces life in prison for firing the stray bullet that killed Jessica White on June 11, 2016.
The tragedy was the result of a gang beef revolving around drug sales at the John Adams Houses, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
Members of the Trinitarios gang tried to attack Stiven SiriReynoso, 24, a member of the rival Dominican gang also known as DDP, prosecutors said. SiriReynoso then ordered Tejada, his fellow gang member, to exact revenge, authorities say.
The teen unleashed a fusillade aimed at a group of men sitting in a playground at the housing complex in Longwood, but struck White (photo below), 28, below the heart, prosecutors charge. With her last words she worried about the safety of her children, witnesses told the Daily News.
“Mommy, the kids!” the victim screamed, according to her mother, Gola White, who watched in horror.
“Bullets don’t have no name, bullets don’t have no direction,” Gola said after the shooting. “So, of course, when my daughter stood up she got hit, under her heart. And she’s gone.”
Jessica White’s children, ages 3, 5 and 9, who had been playing in the park, were running toward their mother when she was shot. The young mom, who’d been in and out of homeless shelters, had saved up enough money to get her own apartment before she was killed. Relatives and investigators grew frustrated by the code of silence that followed the shooting. In strikingly frank remarks, Police Commissioner James O’Neill admitted in October that investigators on the case had received very little information from the community, and, after four months of digging, ‘wanted’ posters were torn down. Residents feared retaliation for cooperating. Reward money didn’t yield a tip. O’Neill said the lack of cooperation from the community was due in part to the NYPD’s history of overly aggressive tactics that had alienated communities of color despite historically low crime rates.
“I want to show the country — and Jessica White’s family — what a galvanized city can deliver: a safe place to live and work for everyone, in every neighborhood, on every corner, in every playground,” O’Neill said.
Prosecutors said Wednesday they hope the charges against Tejada — who already was in custody on unrelated charges — brought some measure of peace to her loved ones.
“Today’s indictment will not return Ms. White to her family, but we hope it provides some solace to know that the men who allegedly took her life will be held to account,” acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said.
Siri-Reynoso has already been charged with ordering the hit and faces life in prison or the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty. A call to Tejada’s attorney was not returned.