Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Friday that an alleged gang member from Manhattan pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second-degree for shooting at a Bronx man as two children ran for their lives on a Mt Eden street in broad daylight, last year.

 

Clark said the defendant went up to the Bronx man and fired a dozen shots last June in the vicinity of the Mt Eden neighborhood in the Bronx. “A 13-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother, on their way to a store, were caught between the defendant and his target,” she said. “Images of the helpless, terrified children, who held one another as the hail of bullets flew next to them, shocked the City and the world. The defendant has been held accountable for the horrendous shooting that injured the man and endangered the children. This plea will spare the children from testifying in court and reliving the trauma.”

 

A video of the shooting was published by several media outlets at the time, including Pix 11 News. Clark said the defendant, Michael Lopez, 28, last of Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second degree on Friday, Jan. 28, before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio. He will be sentenced to 15 years in prison, and five years’ post-release supervision, with a waiver of right to appeal, on March 7.

 

According to the investigation, at 4:43 p.m. on June 17, 2021, near 1551 Sheridan Avenue, close to the border of the Mt Eden neighborhood, Lopez got off a scooter and chased a 24-year-old man up the block, firing at least 12 shots at him. Surveillance video of the incident shows Lopez’s target running into a 13-year-old girl, and her five-year-old brother, knocking them to the ground.

 

Lopez continued to fire shots at the man at close range next to the children as the girl shielded her brother. The male victim was struck once in the back and once in each leg, leaving him with nerve damage to his legs. He is still unable to walk and is undergoing treatment. The children and other innocent bystanders were not injured.

 

Lopez was arrested on June 25, 2021. During his plea appearance, he admitted he had a firearm and had shot the man with the intent to kill him that day.

 

The case was prosecuted by senior trial assistant, Janene Carter, of trial bureau 30 under the supervision of Julie Deleon, chief of trial bureau 30, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division.

 

Clark thanked assistant district attorney, Krystal Palmers, of trial bureau 30, trial preparation assistants, Xavier Rogers and Natalie Sims, digital forensic examiner, Ashley Hinkson, intelligence analyst, Daniel Walker, and Christine Scaccia, chief of the homicide bureau, for their assistance, as well as NYPD Detective Curtis Cato of the 44^th precinct, for his work in the investigation.