A 39-year-old man who was riding on a Brooklyn bus on Thursday lost his life when a teen gunman that was trying to harm a rival mistakenly shot and killed him.
Angel Rojas, 39, was riding the B15 through Bedford-Stuyvesant when the 14-year-old teen, identified as Kahton Anderson, opened fire and shot him in the back of the head.
“One kid pulls out a gun and he lets off a couple of rounds,” a witness told the New York Daily News. “He’s running out of the bus, still letting rounds go, and this poor guy gets shot in the back of the head. He wasn’t the intended victim.”
Emergency workers took the married father of two to Woodhull Hospital in critical condition, but Rojas died shortly before 8 p.m.
“He was such a good family man. All he would do is leave early to go to work, and look what happened,” said Yovanna Melo, who lives next door to the victim. “This is terrible news for everyone that knew him.”
Anderson and two others were taken into custody after police recovered a gun and six shells. As of late Thursday, no charges had been filed.
"He’s just a good kid," said Anderson's grandfather, William Green. "This is the ghetto. You hang out with the wrong crowd and things happen. This is his first real contact with the police.”
[New York Daily News] [New York Times]
