Fatal Washington Heights Shooting Captured On Surveillance Video
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – CBS 2 has obtained surveillance video of a man who was killed by a stray bullet in Washington Heights on Thursday.
The video shows Orlando Rivera was simply outside talking on his phone when the gunfire erupted.
As CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported, it was dinner time Thursday when the gunfire started, and young people can be seen running for their lives on the video.
Police sources told CBS 2 on Friday that the victims were all standing outside the building together. The survivors claimed they were approached by four men they did not know, and one of them pulled a gun and opened fire, police sources said.
A 20-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and was taken to Harlem Hospital Center, where his condition was reported as stable afterward.
A 17-year-old girl was shot once in the left foot and was taken to NewYork Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center, where her condition was also reported as stable.
The surveillance video shows Rivera again, with his hand on his back where he was shot, managing to run around the corner in the direction of his home, one block away. He did not make it.
"Good man, a friend, an awesome father, nobody could say anything negative about him because he was an awesome person," Rivera's longtime friend Leonaris Rodriguez said.
Rivera lived in an apartment with his mother. His friends told Carlin he fixed appliances for a living.
Rivera's son lives in Florida.
Relatives told CBS 2 Rivera was a bystander and they don't believe he was connected to those who shot him.
"He was at the wrong time at the wrong place," Danny DeJesus said.
"He had nothing to do with what was going on across the street," Rodriguez said.
The suspects fled in a minivan. Police are searching for at least three suspects.
Witnesses say one of them was wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt.
As police continue searching, neighbors are collecting money to help Rivera's mother to bury her son.
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