Tourist kid, 9, shot dead Dad’s pal eyed in DR rob
A 9-year-old Bronx boy was fatally shot in a botched robbery earlier this week while on vacation with his dad in the Dominican Republic — and police say the attack was planned by a longtime family friend.
Gioser Luís Feliz took a bullet to the head when the car he was traveling in was swarmed by a gang of robbers soon after the boy left Santiago’s Cibao International Airport with his father on Wednesday.
The boy and his father, Sergio Luis Feliz, had just flown in from New York’s JFK airport and were en route to a relative’s house when the violence unfolded,
Univision reported. The suspects, who were in a rented car, allegedly followed the family from the airport and opened fire when the family’s driver refused to pull over after going through a toll booth, according to cops.
Gioser was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The gunmen were tracked down by cops less than 24 hours later. Six men, including Sergio’s pal Tomás Peña Morel, were arrested.
Police said Morel was known to the Feliz family and had knowledge of their travel route and itinerary, and the mourning father told reporters the thieves knew his family would be the ideal victims.
“It was an attempt to rob me of my belongings without me knowing who it would be because it was my first time coming to Santiago,” Sergio told Univision.
Luis Ángel Vargas Brito, Derlin Javier Mercado Martinez, Cesar Junior Ulloa Cuevas, José Manuel Almonte Santana and Elian Martínez Sánchez were also arrested in connection to the fatal shooting. Police said the arrested men subsequently confessed to shooting up the vehicle.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader decried the violence, tweeting on Thursday: “Now justice must be ensured in the courts.”