Bx. ‘staredown’ slay
‘I want to know why this happened,’ cries victim’s ma
Nicholas Vargas was fatally shot in the head during a senseless “staredown” with another man in the Bronx — and now his grieving mother wants to stare her son’s killer in the eyes and ask just one question: “Why?”
“I want to know why this happened to my son,” Natasha Betancourt told the Daily News from her Stuyvesant Town apartment Saturday, her eyes red and raw from the tears she’s been shedding over her murdered son. “Why did they shoot at him? He didn’t have a gun, anything on him.”
Police said two women may hold some answers for Betancourt.
The pair were at the scene of the fatal shooting and may know Vargas’ killer. The NYPD released surveillance images of the two women early Saturday in the hopes that someone recognizes them.
The two were reportedly on Broadway near W. 238th St. in Kingsbridge about 12:30 a.m. on Friday when Vargas, a father of two, was shot during what witnesses described as a “staredown” with another man, sources with knowledge of the case said.
Vargas and two others were driving past a Broadway IHop when he saw the gunman, witnesses told police.
The two men stared at each other as Vargas got out of the car, cops were told. A second later, the suspect whipped out a gun and fired, striking the Manhattan resident in the head.
Medics rushed Vargas to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Allen, where he died.
No arrests have been made.
Betancourt said she was baby-sitting her son’s children — a 1-year-old and a 3year-old — when Vargas was fatally shot.
Her son knew Kingsbridge well, Bentacourt said.
“We were right in the same area, right down the block on 225th St.,” she said. “I lived there for 35 years.”
“He was dropping off his cousin and was coming to pick me and his kids up to go home,” she said somberly, recalling the simple plans the unidentified gunman ripped apart with the jerk of a trigger. “I just want my son’s killer caught. … I want my son’s killer found. Nicky’s not gang-affiliated, anything like that. He’s the father of two children and one on the way, a good man.”
Vargas’ children still do not know what happened to their father, Betancourt said.
“We haven’t been able to tell them,” she said. “We don’t know how to tell them.”
Police said the two women they want to question may have been with the gunman before the shooting and ran off after shots rang out.
Anyone with information about their whereabouts is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.