Teenager arrested in connection with fatal US subway station shooting

New York: A teenager was arrested Thursday in connection with a shooting at a Bronx subway station this week that killed one person and injured five others, police said.

The teenager, Langel Jones, 16, was apprehended as he was leaving an apartment in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx where he lives with his mother, said Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives. He will be charged with murder, Kenny said.

Obed Beltran-Sanchez, 35, a Mexican laborer who lived in the Bronx, was killed in the shooting. Five other people, whose ages ranged from 14 to 71, were injured, police said.

The shooting took place during the afternoon rush hour Monday at the Mount Eden Avenue subway station in the Bronx. It occurred after a fight broke out between two groups of teenagers on a northbound No. 4 train at 4:30 pm.

Investigators believe that the shooting was in retaliation for another shooting last month, Kenny said. In that shooting, on January 15, the two groups were fighting in front of a bodega on Davidson Avenue in the Bronx when, police and Kenny said, one of the boys, 14, shot at his rivals, striking a 17-year-old in the leg.

On Monday, the 14-year-old was on the No 4 train with his friends when they ran into their rivals, including Jones.

"They just happened to kind of cross paths," Kenny said.

When the train arrived at the station and people began filing off, several people fired guns, police said. The gunfire continued as passengers frantically exited the train and ran for cover.

Jones and another person shot at the rival group, who shot back at them, police said. Nineteen shots were fired inside the train and on the platform.

Beltran-Sanchez, who was killed, was shot in the chest.

"He was just a gentleman riding a train that heard a commotion and made the mistake of looking out on the platform to see what was going on," Kenny said. "Here's a man just going about his business trying to make his way in life and makes the mistake of being curious."

None of the guns used in the shooting have been recovered, Kenny said.

The 14-year-old boy who is a suspect in the January 15 shooting was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted murder in connection with that shooting. His name was not released.

Shootings in New York have been on the decline after a spike earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, according to Police Department data. The odds of getting seriously hurt on the subway are statistically low. There were six shootings on the subway last year and nine in 2022, according to the department's Transit Bureau.

Kenny said after the gunmen fled Monday, Beltran-Sanchez lay bleeding as commuters navigated around him.

"It's heartbreaking to see the video of him dying as people are walking past him," Kenny said. "No one rendered aid."