On a Thursday morning in the Bronx, the lives of three people were irrevocably changed in an instant of violence. On June 21, 2018, 33-year-old Christopher Alleyne was in the Castle Hill neighborhood when gunfire erupted around 9:40 a.m. The attack, which unfolded in front of a strip of businesses on Castle Hill Avenue, was sudden and brutal, leaving chaos in its wake.
Alleyne was struck in the head by the gunfire and was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased.
The incident that claimed Alleyne's life was a triple homicide. Alongside him, another 33-year-old man, Mustafa Tarver, was also shot in the head. A third victim, 45-year-old Arileida Jimenez, who was reportedly an innocent bystander handing out flyers, was shot in the torso. Tragically, all three victims, who lived in the nearby Castle Hill Houses, succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. Witnesses at the scene described a harrowing situation, with one person attempting to render aid to the victims before emergency services arrived.
The investigation into the brazen daytime shooting led police to identify a suspect. Authorities named 51-year-old Samuel Cross as the man responsible for the triple homicide and released surveillance footage of him fleeing the scene. Law enforcement officials believe that Mustafa Tarver was the intended target of the shooting, suggesting that Christopher Alleyne, also known as 'Butter,' was likely an unintended victim caught in the deadly assault. Despite a reward being offered for information leading to an arrest and the case being featured on a television show dedicated to finding fugitives, Samuel Cross has remained at large. As of 2022, no arrests had been made in connection with the deaths of Christopher Alleyne, Mustafa Tarver, and Arileida Jimenez, and the investigation remains ongoing.
