In the quiet hours of a summer night in Brooklyn, a wave of violence shattered the peace, leaving two men dead and a community in shock. Among the victims was Francisco Fuentes Rangel, a 59-year-old man, who was fatally shot on July 21, 2024, outside a migrant shelter in the Clinton Hill neighborhood.
That evening, two assailants on a moped reportedly pulled up to the shelter on Ryerson Street and opened fire.
Fuentes Rangel was struck in the head and, after fighting for his life for several days, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Also killed in the attack was 21-year-old Enny DeJesus Urbina Mendez, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Both Fuentes Rangel and Urbina Mendez were residents of the shelter.
The aftermath of the shooting saw a swift police investigation. A few blocks from the scene of the crime, the moped believed to be used in the attack crashed into another vehicle. The driver of the moped, identified as 26-year-old Jorge Said Benitez Villa, was injured in the crash and subsequently taken into custody. He was arrested on July 24 and charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of Fuentes Rangel and Urbina Mendez. The passenger on the moped, who is believed to be the gunman, managed to flee the scene and was still at large as of late July 2024.
The motive for the shooting is still under investigation, with police exploring the possibility of it being gang-related. The tragic incident was part of a violent night in the neighborhood, as another fatal shooting had occurred just minutes earlier at a nearby park. Initially, authorities believed the two events were connected, but they are now being treated as separate cases. In that shooting, a New York City Parks Department employee was arrested.
