On a winter evening in Brooklyn, 36-year-old Jennifer Ynoa took her dog, Blue, for a walk, a routine that ended in unimaginable tragedy. On January 2, 2022, at approximately 9:45 p.m., Ynoa, a mother of three, was inside a smoke shop on Dekalb Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. As she stood near the register with her leashed dog, a man entered the store and opened fire. Ynoa was struck in the torso, and her dog was also fatally shot.
She stumbled out of the store and collapsed on the sidewalk. Emergency services rushed her to Brooklyn Hospital, but she was pronounced dead.
Investigators quickly determined that Ynoa was an innocent bystander, not the intended target of the brazen attack. Police believe the gunman was aiming for another man who was also inside the bodega at the time. The senseless violence of the act, which also claimed the life of her beloved pet, sent shockwaves through the community. Her boyfriend and friends remembered her as a great person with no enemies, making her sudden death even more difficult to comprehend.
The New York Police Department launched an investigation, releasing surveillance footage of the suspect to the public. Their efforts led to the arrest of Namel Colon on February 22, 2022. Colon, then 36, was charged with murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. The case moved through the legal system, culminating in a guilty plea from Colon to a lesser charge. On June 9, 2025, he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Subsequently, on July 15, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phylis Chu sentenced Namel Colon to 25 years in prison for the killing of Jennifer Ynoa and her dog.
