Young dad slain
Shot sitting with pal in Bx. housing complex
A young Bronx father who survived a 2017 shooting and was aiming for a construction license and college degree was fatally shot early Sunday, police said.
Nestor Ventura, 26, was gunned down in a courtyard of the Academy Gardens complex on Commonwealth Ave. near Randall Ave. in Soundview around 3:50 a.m., authorities said. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center but could not be saved.
Ventura’s 18-month-old daughter, Nailahni, and his mother, Marinee Jimenez, heard the shots, Ventura’s aunt, Yanell Jimenez, 39, told the Daily News. The toddler’s mom lives about seven blocks away.
“We want cops to catch the shooter,” the aunt said. “In our grief, we want answers to ease our pain. We want justice.”
Relatives said Ventura was sitting with a friend on lounge chairs and sharing some fast food in the courtyard when he was sprayed with bullets.
Jimenez, who was visiting from Miami, said Ventura’s mom heard the first pops of gunfire and was immediately alarmed.
“My sister was sitting in the dining room listening to music, when she heard … shots,” said Jimenez. “She sent [Ventura] a text and said, ‘Hey baby, please be safe. is everything alright?’ ”
Moments later, a neighbor knocked and told the shocked mother that her son had been shot.
Ventura’s mother ran out the front door and saw her son on the ground 200 feet away with paramedics administering CPR, Jimenez said.
“Thirty minutes later, doctors told us he didn’t make it,” the aunt said. “He was shot twice on the left side of his chest, two more times above the left side and the right side of his hips.”
Ventura survived a shooting in October 2017, when he was shot in the foot and two of his friends were killed by a gunman who fired at them from a moving car, relatives said.
“He recovered well,” Jimenez said.
She added the young dad was getting his life together, doing construction work and awaiting a work license. He also had been collecting documents so he could attend college.
“I’m in shock. I can’t believe it.” said Jimenez, recalling she’d last seen her nephew Friday night. “I’m trying to stay calm.”
Neighbors said a surveillance security system was recently installed at the low-income complex and that the slaying was captured on camera.
“A security guard saw it on tape,” said a porter who works at the complex. “He said it was pretty ugly.”
No arrests have been made. Cops didn’t immediately have a suspect description or motive for the slaying.