Teenager charged in fatal shooting of 16-year-old girl

NEW YORK — Police said that they had arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a teenager who was killed near her high school in the Bronx on Friday, the latest shooting in a monthslong string that has left New York City shaken.

Jeremiah Ryan, 17, of the Bronx, was charged with murder in the killing of Angellyh Yambo, 16, who was shot as she walked home from school.

At a news conference Saturday, Deputy Police Chief Timothy McCormack said that Yambo and another 16-year-old girl were struck by stray bullets fired by Ryan from a half-block away shortly before 2 p.m. Friday.

A third victim, a 17-year-old boy, was struck by a stray bullet from one block away. The names of the boy and the other 16-year-old girl, who survived their injuries, were not released.

McCormack said the victims were caught between two people on opposite sides of the street who were arguing and “gesturing” at each other before one, Ryan, pulled out a gun and opened fire. It was not clear what the argument was about.

The chief said that the shooting was captured on surveillance video and that Ryan, who was also charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, had no criminal history and “zero police contact at all.”

“We have two families that are completely destroyed right now: the victim’s family and our shooter’s family,” McCormack said.

Yambo was killed just blocks from her home in the South Bronx and around the corner from University Heights Secondary School. She was pronounced dead shortly after emergency responders brought her to Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx.

McCormack said Friday that police believed the victims were headed home from school.

“Angellyh Yambo had a bright future,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said Saturday. “She was doing everything right.”

On Friday, Sewell said that gunfire erupted when “brazen criminals” standing near the school “opened fire during a dispute.”

Diana Marrero, 54, said she had lived in an apartment on the same floor as Yambo and her family for several years in a building on East 156 Street. She described Yambo as “always serious.”

“She used to say ‘hi’ every day walking her dog down,” Marrero said. “She used to go to school and come back home. She wasn’t a girl who used to be hanging out there or nothing.”

Hazel Cheeseboro, 15, described Yambo as a selfless and caring friend.

“She was really energetic,” said Hazel, who said she had known Yambo since elementary school. “She was a happy person. She showed love and attention to you no matter what. She put you before herself.”

Yambo had attended University Prep High School, a charter school, which held an assembly and offered counseling services to its students Saturday morning, said Tawana Houston, a school safety agent there.