Cops have charged the gunman who fatally shot a 19-year-old dad-to-be as he took aim at his ex-girlfriend — the victim’s aunt — inside the woman’s East Harlem apartment, police said Friday.
Jose Rodriguez, 54, was hit with murder, assault and weapons possession charges for the Wednesday morning shooting inside an apartment on E. 112th St. near Third Ave., part of NYCHA’s Jefferson Houses, cops said.
Rodriguez, who is homeless, pushed his way into ex-girlfriend Melidy Adega’s second floor apartment about 3:30 a.m., pulled a gun and started shooting, the horrified woman told the Daily News.
“He took out his gun and he shot, pow, pow,” Adega, 38, told the Daily News Thursday.
Victim Ramon Alvarez also lived in the apartment and ran into the room to see what was going on, his aunt said.
“[He] was getting up from sleep when he heard the commotion,”Adega said. “[Rodriguez] shot my nephew first. He was shooting in the dark.”
Rodriguez then turned and pointed the gun at Adega’s face, but the woman grabbed the barrel before he could fire off a shot, she recalled. She was grazed in the shoulder.
When medics arrived at the scene, Alvarez was conscious and talking. He was taken to Harlem Hospital, where he took a turn for the worse and died, police said.
Rodriguez sped off on a bicycle, ditching the gun as he made his escape, officials said. Cops arrested him late Thursday. He has 27 prior arrests, 17 of which are felonies, according to police sources.
His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Friday.
Adega and Rodriguez had been dating on and off for about four years before she recently ended the “abusive” relationship.
“He’d come over and he started acting violent,” Adega said of the shooter. “When he said he was going to kill me, I never took it seriously.”
Alvarez and his girlfriend were expecting a baby boy next month and planned to celebrate the arrival at a shower scheduled for this weekend.
“She’s devastated,” Adega said of the victim’s girlfriend. “That’s their first child, and he’ll never even see the birth.”
Kerry Burke
A memorial to Ramon Alvarez outside the NYCHA Thomas Jefferson Houses. (Kerry Burke)
The slain man was working for the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation and working to get his GED, according to the mother-to-be’s brother.
“He was going to be a great dad,” Dorian Lawrence said. “We’re all very hurt.
“I’m at a loss for words.”
