A 15-year-old was ordered held without bail in the caught-on-camera killing of a 14-year-old boy in a Bronx playground, officials said Friday.
The teen, who was ordered to a juvenile facility until his next court date, was the last of four suspects charged in the death of Angel Mendoza to be arraigned, officials said.
Cops were looking for two others involved in the brutal gang assault at Norwood’s Williamsbridge Oval Playground at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
All of the arrested teens are charged with murder, manslaughter, gang assault and weapons possession after they were recorded on a cellphone striking Angel in the face with a Taurus 9-mm. pistol. The suspects then “repeatedly struck and kicked him about his head, face and body, as well as stabbed him one time in the chest and one time in the abdomen with a sharp object,” according to court documents.
Andrew Ansah, 18, was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court on Wednesday night, while Jordan Williams, also 18, was arraigned on Thursday. Both were ordered held without bail.
A 16-year-old, who confessed to bringing the handgun into the park and pistol-whipping Angel, was also arraigned late Thursday and ordered held without bail.
The violence began when two teens got into an argument inside the playground, law enforcement sources said. The teen who instigated the fight pulled a knife and tried to stab his rival, but his opponent managed to grab the blade and stab him with it, sources said.
Within a few moments, the teen wounded with his own knife reached out to friends to gang up on the person who stabbed him. Angel, sources said, was a friend of the stabber and was already in the park when the fight escalated.
It it not clear if Angel was trying to protect his friend when the six suspects attacked him, officials said.
Medics rushed Angel to Jacobi Medical Center Tuesday evening, where he died a little over an hour later. He lived three blocks away from the playground.
“I want my son back!” the boy’s inconsolable mother cried Wednesday at the family home, hugging the pillow her son slept on.
“Everyone who was involved should be arrested,” Angel’s father Miguel Mendoza said. “They can fight as much as they want without knife and guns.”
“[The suspects] have mothers and they need to see how Angel’s mother looks right now,” he added.
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