Ex-con held in Bx. slay
Cops call it revenge; family says mistaken ID
An ex-con has been arrested for the fatal shooting of a Bronx man across the street from the victim’s home in March — and the dead man’s stunned family thinks the slaying may have been a case of mistaken identity.
NYPD cops on Tuesday nabbed Jonathan Cedres for the March 15 shooting death of 21-year-old Andy Vasquez. Cedres, 32, is charged with murder, manslaughter and weapon possession.
A police spokesman said Tuesday revenge was the motivation for the shooting. Cedres and Vasquez both live within a block of the shooting scene on the Grand Concourse near E. 175th St. in Mount Hope.
“It must have been a mistaken identity. He didn’t have a problem with anybody,” the victim’s sister Kimberly Vasquez, 23, told the Daily News after the suspect’s arrest.
“I want to know why he did this to my brother. He died alone, out in the street. I want justice for my brother.”
Vasquez, who wasn’t working because of a knee injury, lived with his mother, sister and older brother.
“He was a nice person who helped everyone out here. He was my little brother. There were three of us. He didn’t hang out in the street,” his sister said. “After our father died a few years ago, he mostly stayed home.”
Vasquez spent his free time playing video games, she said.
“When I saw his body in the hospital I couldn’t believe it,” the sister said. “I still miss him every time I come home from work and he isn’t here.”
Vasquez’s lifelong friend Jose Matthews was at the crime scene just after 1 a.m. and told Vasquez, “Stay with me, stay with me,” as his eyes were closing, the victim’s sister recalled. He had been shot in the solar plexus, she said.
“He was on the floor for over 15 minutes, and people just walked by him,” Matthews, 32, told The News. “He was unconscious.”
“He was an innocent kid. He wasn’t into anything out here.,” he added. “I picked him up, and we carried him and put him in the car and took him to the hospital. It’s unbelievable.”
Cedres served a 3½-year prison sentence for a 2007 attempted assault conviction, public records show. He was awaiting arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Vasquez’s murder is one of 189 citywide this year through June 19, down from the 218 victims during the same time last year, according to NYPD statistics.
Shootings are also down so far this year, with 693 victims compared with 765 by this time last year, a 9% drop.