On a summer evening in Poughkeepsie, New York, 16-year-old Frederick Wells, a male student at Poughkeepsie High School, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. On June 20, 2020, at approximately 10:33 p.m., police responded to calls of shots fired in the area of North Bridge and Charles Streets. Upon arrival, they discovered Frederick, who had been shot, and another 16-year-old who had been stabbed but sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Frederick was rushed to Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
The investigation revealed a tragic story of a young man who was an innocent bystander to a violent gang dispute. Frederick, who was not involved in any gang activity, was with a friend who was a member of the Gorilla Stone Nation, a subset of the Bloods street gang. They encountered members of a rival Bloods set known as Bully Hard Hunna. A physical altercation broke out between the rival gang members.
During the fight, Elijah Bermudez, a 32-year-old member of the Bully Hard gang also known as 'Quiet,' stabbed Frederick's friend. When a gun was dropped during the melee, Bermudez picked it up and fired, striking Frederick in the head as he tried to flee the scene. The killing of Frederick Wells set off a chain of retaliatory violence, leading to the murder of a 15-year-old three months later.
In the course of the investigation, Elijah Bermudez was identified as the shooter. In July 2024, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, racketeering conspiracy, and weapons charges in connection with Frederick's death. On May 7, 2025, a U.S. District Judge sentenced Bermudez to 34 years in prison for the murder and other offenses related to his gang activities. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. Prosecutors stated that Frederick Wells was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, an innocent victim of a senseless act of gang violence.
