On a Sunday night in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, 24-year-old Sade Sanchez was walking with her mother and a friend when her life was tragically cut short. It was around 10:30 p.m. on October 7, 2018, near the intersection of Menahan Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, when her ex-boyfriend, 26-year-old Gabriel Rivera, suddenly appeared. Rivera, with whom Sanchez shared two children, emerged from behind a car and opened fire, striking Sanchez multiple times in the neck, chest, shoulder, and
stomach. After she fell to the ground, he continued to shoot at her. Her friend ran to a nearby police precinct for help, while emergency responders rushed her to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The events leading up to that fatal night revealed a history of domestic turmoil. Sanchez had ended her nine-year relationship with Rivera on September 1, 2018. In the weeks that followed, Rivera incessantly called and texted her and was seen stalking her outside her home. Sanchez had reportedly filed for an order of protection against him. The day before the shooting, Rivera had confronted a male friend of Sanchez's outside her home, assaulting him and warning him to stay away from her. The same friend was with Sanchez and her mother when the shooting occurred. After shooting Sanchez, Rivera aimed the gun at her mother's face and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire.
The day after the shooting, Gabriel Rivera turned himself in to the 83rd Precinct. He was subsequently charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. In March 2023, Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, first-degree stalking, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and third-degree attempted assault. On May 5, 2023, a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice sentenced Rivera to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Sade Sanchez and the attempted murder of her mother.
