15-year-old Times Square shooting suspect taken into custody in Yonkers
Editor's Note 2/10/24 -- Police charged 15-year-old Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa as an adult after this story was filed. Click here to read more.
NEW YORK -- A teenager was arrested Friday in connection with a shooting that wounded a tourist in New York City's Times Square on Thursday night.
It was a manhunt for most of the day before U.S. Marshals found the 15-year-old at a home on Saratoga Avenue in Yonkers.
CBS New York is not naming the suspect because he is a juvenile.
The New York City Police Department reports that the teen suspect was with his mother in Yonkers when he was captured, and was crying as he was taken into custody. He was still being questioned by investigators Friday night, but police say he will likely be charged as a juvenile. He's expected to be charged with attempted murder.
The suspect arrived in New York from Venezuela less than six months ago and was living at a migrant shelter on the Upper West Side, police said.
A police source told CBS New York that he is also a suspect in a January armed robbery in the Bronx, as well as another shooting in Midtown in which no one was hurt.
Investigators could still be seen inside the Yonkers home where he was arrested late Friday night.
Watch Jennifer Bisram's report
"If you think you can threaten the lives of the very people who keep us safe, if you think you can put others at deadly risk and get away with it, then think again. We will never stop pursuing you. We will find you, and we will arrest you," NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said.
Shocking surveillance video showed the moment a shooter, dressed all in white, opened fire on a female security guard inside of JD Sports in Times Square Thursday night.
"The shooting incident in Times Square last night was way beyond reckless," Caban said.
According to police, the gunman and two friends stole clothes and sneakers and were trying to exit the store when a security guard confronted them. The teen in white can be seen on video walking away, and then turning around, pointing a .45 caliber pistol, and firing.
"The girl who got shot was between us two. We heard a big bang and then realized what happened," tourist Lone Hansen said.
Officials said the bullet missed the guard, but hit a tourist from Brazil in the leg, barely missing Hansen and her son, who are visiting from Denmark.
"I just heard the gunshots and then everybody run," Albert Hansen said.
Watch: NYPD provides update on Times Square shooting arrest
Police said the mayhem spilled onto the streets of Times Square, forcing people to run and duck for cover.
"He turns once. He fires towards our officer. Our officer takes his gun out. He cannot return fire, there's too many people in his way. As the suspect goes through the cut between the buildings, he's running, he takes his gun out under his armpit, he fires again at our officer," NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said in a news briefing Friday. "I gotta tell you - one of those bullets hits our cop last night, this is a whole different conversation we're having today. Our cop showed great restraint not to fire their weapon into crowded New Yorkers."
"He shot [at] the NYPD officers who pursued him through the streets of Midtown without a single thought of who he might hit or who he might kill," Caban said.
Officials said the suspect initially managed to get away by running into the subway.
"We don't care who you are, what your status is. We're not going to broad brush a whole migrant community as being bad people," Chell said.
The brazen shooting in Times Square Thursday night comes after the Jan. 27 Times Square attack where a group of men — mostly migrants, according to police — assaulted two members of the NYPD. The Manhattan district attorney released body camera video Thursday, saying seven people have been indicted in that case.
Chell insisted Times Square is safe.
"Take a look around you. Thousands of people shopping, walking around. Times Square is safe. We are still the safest city in the world. If you see these incidents, our cops are right there where they're supposed to be," Chell said. "We'd like to prevent everything from happening, but the second best thing is to be there, effect arrests, and keep this community safe. Yes, Times Square is very safe."
"No, I don't feel that safe. How could you feel safe?" said Kazi Meursaed, who owns a tourist shop near the scene. "I hear two or three shots, and people run away scared."
"There are some Venezuelan groups of migrants - and I say some, not all - that are affecting crime in our city more so now than when they first got here," Chell said. "We saw the moped robberies and snatches. We see pockets being picked in Times Square and on the subway. We see some groups going into stores - Macy's, Kings Plaza, Glass Hut - and stealing property. So yes, it's a trend. But I want to be clear here again: We don't care. We don't care who you are, what you are, what your status is. Our job is to keep this community safe."
The tourist who was struck by the stray bullet has been released from the hospital and is in good spirits.
In the meantime, the NYPD has a message for anyone who commits a crime in New York City.
"Your new status that the NYPD is going to give you is criminal if you start preying on vulnerable New Yorkers," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said.
Bisram talked with the security guard on the phone. She was back at work Friday, but did not want to talk about the incident..
Police said another 16-year-old suspect was apprehended Friday morning, and another 15-year-old was apprehended shortly after the initial shoplifting incident.
