In the early morning hours of a Wednesday in the Bronx, a life was tragically cut short. Rafael Vasquez, a 32-year-old man, was found unconscious and unresponsive in the vicinity of East 180th Street and Creston Avenue. It was approximately 7:33 a.m. on September 11, 2024, when police responded to a 911 call about a person shot. Upon their arrival, they discovered Mr. Vasquez with gunshot wounds to his face and back. Emergency medical services rushed him to St.
Barnabas Hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal, and he succumbed to them at the hospital.
The investigation into the shooting led to a swift arrest. On Thursday, September 12, 2024, at around 11:08 a.m., the New York Police Department took a suspect into custody within the confines of the 46th Precinct. The individual arrested was identified as 32-year-old Kelvin Mata, a resident of the Bronx. The connection between Mata and Vasquez was not immediately made public, but the array of charges brought against Mata suggested a complex case.
Kelvin Mata faced a multitude of serious charges in connection with the death of Rafael Vasquez. These included murder, manslaughter in the first degree, and criminal possession of a firearm. In a surprising turn, the charges also extended to numerous counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, with one indictment listing 82 counts and another a staggering 169 counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, alongside a single count in the fifth degree. The investigation remains ongoing as the legal process against Kelvin Mata proceeds.
