In the Bronx, a 61-year-old woman named Juana Esperanza Soriano De-Perdomo, who had moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic three decades prior, was tragically killed. She was walking on East 188th Street near the Grand Concourse when a dispute broke out between two groups of men. As gunshots were fired, she attempted to seek refuge inside a nearby bodega but was struck in the back by a stray bullet. Emergency services transported her to St.
Barnabas Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.
The incident was a result of an argument believed to involve street vendors and members of the Bloods gang. The confrontation escalated to the point where firearms were drawn and discharged. Soriano De-Perdomo, an innocent bystander on her way home from work, was caught in the crossfire. Her death was a senseless act of violence that left her two sons and three grandchildren grieving.
In the days following the shooting, the New York Police Department launched an investigation that led to the arrests of two brothers, 20-year-old Donald Johnson and 33-year-old Rakell Hampton. Both men, reported to be known members of the Bloods gang with lengthy criminal records, were charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon. It was reported that Hampton had been released on bond for a previous charge on the same day of the fatal shooting. The investigation into the incident continued as police sought to identify other individuals involved in the dispute.
