New York Daily News

‘Killers!’ cries Lesandro ma to suspects

- BY KHADIJA HUSEEIN AND LARRY MCSHANE

The pain of seeing her son’s accused killers from a few feet away was too much for heartbroke­n Bronx mom Leandra Feliz to swallow.

Feliz, whose 15-year-old son was hacked to death last month by machete-wielding gang members, howled in anger and anguish Wednesday as the dozen suspects in the brutal murder pleaded innocent.

“Asesino!” shouted Leandra Feliz, spitting out the Spanish word for “killer” as defendants Jonaiki Martinez Estrella and Daniel Fernandez stood in Bronx Criminal Court with their hands cuffed behind them.

Her son Lesandro (Junior) Guzman-Feliz was brutally slain in a June 20 case of mistaken identity by members of the Trinitario­s gang, authoritie­s charged.

The victim’s mother — wearing a black shirt, a crucifix and a button bearing a picture of her slain son — was led from the courtroom by relatives after the emotional outburst. She stayed outside for a short time and returned for the rest of the hearing after regaining her composure.

Later, after the rest of the suspects were paraded into court to enter pleas of not guilty, Feliz tore into all those accused in the senseless slaying.

“He was just a 15-year-old boy, an innocent who was not a gangster,” she said. “They killed a baby . . . . They did not kill a man or a gang member. They killed a good boy.”

Eleven of the defendants entered not guilty pleas through their lawyers, while co-defendant Kevin Alvarez declared loudly, “Not guilty, sir.”

The suspects, in an attack captured on security video, yanked the badly outnumbere­d aspiring police officer from a Bronx bodega and delivered him to his death with knives and a machete, cops said.

The 12th suspect in the ruthless killing, 25-year-old Luis Cabrera Santos, was arrested last week in Connecticu­t and held on $1 million bond. He was extradited to the Bronx for the Wednesday hearing.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States