2nd suspect is charged in fatal Bx. shoot
A 1-year-old girl crossing a Staten Island intersection with her mom was struck and killed by a Jeep driver in a gruesome Thursday morning crash, police said.
Neighbors awoke to a bloodcurdling scream just after 7 a.m. when the white Jeep mowed down the 31-year-old mother and her tiny daughter, staining the crosswalk with the toddler’s blood while leaving her small black sneaker lying in the street.
Witnesses said the injured mother, identified by police sources as Khalil Sabreen, clung to her dying daughter, Lian Mashni, after the crash in a heartbreaking tableau. Sabreen suffered leg injuries in the accident and was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, where baby Lian died.
“We had to pull her off the baby,” said neighbor Frances Garcia, who helped console the mother. “Everyone started screaming. It’s just a baby.”
Sabreen and her child were crossing
Abbott St. at Scarboro Ave. in Rosebank when struck, with the Jeep driver, identified Thursday night as Shannon Cocozza, 40, of Staten Island, pulling over after the accident, said local residents.
Cocozza was later charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. Police earlier said the driver acknowledged making a “hurried turn” in the intersection.
“I was running late for work, and I didn’t see them,” she reportedly told police at the scene.
Neighborhood resident Bethzaida Rivera, 64, rushed outside from her nearby apartment to see the devastated mother on the street.
“She was grabbing my arm, saying, ‘Please pray for my daughter! Please pray for my daughter!’ ” said Rivera, adding the mom and the little girl were both local residents.
“She was still alive,” Rivera said of the baby. “Still breathing. I saw her little eyes open.”
EMS rushed the tot to Staten Island North Hospital. The child underwent surgery, but he couldn’t be saved and died about an hour later, police said.
The 1-year-old was the 10th person under age 18 or under killed in a New York City crash in 2022, according to a tally by Transportation Alternatives, a cycling and pedestrian safety group.
By this time in 2021, four people age 18 or under had been killed in crashes in the city, the group said.
The Staten Island girl was the 88th person killed in a vehicle crash in New York City so far this year, according to the city Department of Transportation.
And the 89th death occurred about six hours later in the Bronx, authorities said.
A 53-year-old cyclist was mortally injured when struck on Bruckner Blvd., police said, with the driver of the “heavy-duty truck” driving away from the scene to start a police manhunt.
Police said the cyclist was riding at about 12:55 p.m. when struck near 136th St., and died at Lincoln Hospital.
The 89th traffic death is equal to the number of fatalities in 2021 through this date.
Last year saw the most people killed in car crashes during a calendar year since former Mayor Bill de Blasio took office and launched his Vision Zero campaign, with the goal of making streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
A second suspect faces murder charges in the deadly May 18 ambush of a 20-year-old man who came to the Bronx after answering an online ad selling two motorcycles.
Cops on Wednesday night busted Joan Vasquez, 32, of the Bronx, charging him with the slaying of Jefferson Jimenez Hernandez.
Hernandez and three friends showed up at E. 144th St. and Exterior St. in Mott Haven (photo) to buy two Kawasaki motorcycles, taking a flatbed U-Haul trailer with them to haul the bikes home, police sources said.
The would-be sellers stepped away to grab some paperwork and the exchange soon went bad — four men riding two dirt bikes and two motorcycles opened fire, hitting Hernandez several times in the head.
Medics rushed Hernandez to Lincoln Hospital, but he could not be saved. His friends were not injured.
An unloaded firearm was found inside the victim’s Chevrolet Trailblazer but it wasn’t clear if it was used in the shooting, or if Hernandez or his friends brought it with them, police sources said.
Hernandez, of Spring Valley, was would have turned 21 in just a few weeks, his family told News 12 Hudson Valley.
“The pain that they have caused my family cannot be communicated through words,” his mother, Miriam Jimenez, told the news station. “My son was a very special person. He always worked hard. He respected everyone. Everybody in the world loved him.”
Cops arrested another suspect, Manuel Reyes, 23, last week. He remains held without bail on Rikers Island.
Vasquez awaits arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court.
Hernandez went by the nickname “Jefe,” according to a GoFundMe page posted by a relative.
“Jefe was a funny and hardworking young man. Very dedicated to his tattooing and helping out his family and friends. Famous for bringing smiles to everyone’s faces through (effortless} entertainment,” the page reads.