Photo: Corbis News
The U.S. Marshals Service arrested a 15-year-old migrant accused of shooting a tourist in Times Square and firing at a New York City police officer.
Authorities said that the teen, Jesus Alejandro Rivas Figueroa, and two others, aged 15 and 16, entered JD Sports just after 7 p.m. ET on Thursday (February 8) night. The teens went to the second floor and started stealing merchandise. A security guard on the first floor confronted two of the teens and confiscated the stolen items.
During the confrontation, Figueroa allegedly fired a .45-caliber handgun toward the security guard. The shot missed the security guard and struck a 37-year-old Brazilian tourist in the knee.
"I felt a pain in my body, but I didn't know where it was coming from," the tourist told WABC reporter Jim Dolan. "I started feeling my body to figure out where I was hit, and I realized my leg was bleeding under my pants."
She was taken to the hospital, where she was treated and released.
Figueroa fled the scene and was tracked down by a police officer a few blocks away. He then fired two shots at the officer but did not hit him. The officer did not return fire because there were too many people between him and Figueroa.
The teen then fled into a subway station and managed to disappear by running down the tracks.
The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Recovery Task Force tracked down Figueroa and arrested him in Yonkers, which is about 15 miles north of New York City. Figueroa, who arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in September, is also wanted in connection with an armed robbery in the Bronx and a shots-fired investigation at a park in midtown Manhattan.
The 16-year-old boy involved in the robbery was taken into custody, while the other 15-year-old was questioned by detectives and then released.