In the daylight hours of a Wednesday afternoon in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, a violent scene unfolded that would end the life of 48-year-old Franklin Bello. On March 27, 2019, while sitting in his car near the intersection of West 185th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, Bello, a Hispanic male, was approached by a gunman who fired multiple shots, striking him several times in the chest.
The brazen attack left Bello gravely wounded, and though he was rushed to a nearby hospital, his injuries proved fatal.
Witnesses to the shooting described a swift and calculated act. The assailant, described as a Hispanic man in his 20s wearing a black jacket and a baseball cap, reportedly walked up to Bello's vehicle, opened fire, and then calmly walked away from the scene. Investigators later recovered a gun and a hat the suspect allegedly dropped as he fled. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear to authorities. Bello himself had a troubled past, having spent a significant portion of his adult life in prison for a murder committed in his youth and for a later drug-related felony.
The investigation into Franklin Bello's death quickly led to a suspect. A few days after the shooting, police arrested 33-year-old Michael Velazquez. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder, criminal use of a firearm, and criminal possession of a firearm. Velazquez was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court and was held without bail pending further legal proceedings. While an arrest was made, the underlying reasons for the fatal encounter remained undisclosed by law enforcement.
