In the early morning hours of July 27, 2022, a sense of grim familiarity washed over the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx. Jayshua Choco Nivar, a 20-year-old male from the Bronx, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in front of a deli on East 187th Street. The call came in at approximately 4:09 a.m., and when police arrived, they discovered Nivar unconscious and unresponsive, having been shot twice in the head and once in the hip. Emergency medical services rushed him to St.
Barnabas Hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal, and he was pronounced deceased. At the time of his death, Nivar had been out on bail after a recent arrest for possession of a loaded firearm.
The investigation into Nivar's death quickly painted a picture of a targeted attack. Witnesses reported seeing two men flee the scene in a gray sedan shortly after the gunshots rang out. Detectives began searching for two suspects, one reportedly dressed in all white and the other in all black. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear, but the nature of the crime suggested a deliberate act of violence. In the days that followed, a memorial grew outside Nivar's building as friends and neighbors mourned the loss of a young man they remembered as a respectful person and a good father.
A break in the case came on August 12, 2022, when the NYPD arrested 25-year-old Aro Matos in connection with the homicide. Matos was charged with murder, manslaughter, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. The investigation continued, leading to the subsequent arrests of 18-year-old Gregory Almonte and 18-year-old David Polanco. They faced the same charges of murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon, bringing a sense of cautious hope for justice to Nivar's grieving family and community.
