Bad Shot Gets 25 yrs for Killing Young Mom

Bad Shot Gets 25 yrs for Killing Young Mom

#NYPD #Gunman #Bronxnews

BRONX, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 5- He shot at one man, aiming to hit, and he did. But Jeffrey Ramirez’ bullets also took the life of an innocent bystander, young mother Yaritza Pacheco. For that, he was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, announced Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.

Ramirez was found guilty following a jury trial of manslaughter in the first degree, attempted murder in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

The 24-year-old Pacheco left behind a daughter, a little girl now seven years old, whose victim impact statement was read in Bronx Supreme Court Justice Troy Webber’s courtroom – “I love my mother and I lost her when I was four years old. I wanted her whole life. It’s really sad to lose someone in your life.

“I wish there was no death in the world.”

But death there was on August 21, 2011, as the then-19-year-old Ramirez aimed his illegally purchased Cobra .380 at homeless man Leonard Shoulders. One bullet grazed Shoulders, but another slammed straight into Yaritza Pacheco’s neck. She took but a few more steps before crumpling to the sidewalk, dead.

Video shows Ramirez walking up to a bodega on E. 174^th Street near Boston Road, where he witnessed Shoulders having a small argument with some other men about jumping a line into the store. Ramirez did not know any of the participants in the matter, but he jumped in to the fray. Shoulders took off in a run with Ramirez in pursuit, firing his gun.

At the same time Ramirez was running down Hoe Avenue, Yaritza Pacheco was just home from her job at a Bronx Applebee’s, seen on surveillance video laughing, her arm around a friend, the pair walking down 174^th Street – and right into the path of Ramirez’ bullets, as he ran down the block, chasing Shoulders.

Later that day, Ramirez attempted to flee not only the jurisdiction, but the country. He was on the jet bridge, steps away from boarding JetBlue 823 at JFK, on a one-way ticket to Santo Domingo and freedom when agents from the Department of Homeland Security detained him.

Following his incarceration, Ramirez will be deported from the country.