The teenager fatally shot outdoors a Bronx afterparty over the weekend was a “household boy” and future Navy recruit with a “vivid future,” his grief-stricken family advised The Publish as they desperately pleaded for justice within the unsolved slaying.
Juan Jose Pena, 18, was gunned down round 1:25 a.m. Sunday outdoors the festivities on Park Avenue close to East 176th Road within the Tremont neighborhood, legislation enforcement sources stated.
A black sedan pulled as much as the venue, the place somebody inside exchanged phrases with the sufferer earlier than opening hearth, in accordance with the sources.
Juan – who was rushed to an area hospital solely to succumb to his accidents – graduated from the Bronx Management Academy Excessive Faculty final summer season and was planning to hitch the Navy, in accordance with his household.
“I need justice for my son,” the slain teen’s mom, Anayeli Pena, advised The Publish in Spanish Tuesday. “They didn’t kill a canine, they killed a son with a future, with a vivid future. I don’t need his demise to go unpunished.”
“Justice is the one factor I can ask for,” she added. “What else can I ask for? I need them to pay for what they did to my son. They didn’t kill a canine. They killed a younger boy filled with dwell. They killed him they usually additionally killed me alive.”
Days after the household was devastated with the information of Juan’s demise, his mom’s front room become a tribute for her slain son – with photographs of the teenager, white roses and different flowers and diverse candles adorning a desk.
The second-oldest of 4 kids, Juan was born within the Dominican Republic, in accordance with his aunt, Shery Olivo, 35, a Dominican writer.
He had two sisters and one brother, and lived along with his stay-at-home mom.
“He was an individual full of affection,” Olivo stated. “He was a household boy. He at all times helped out in the home. For holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas – he was the one within the kitchen serving to to arrange the household dinner, the turkey, the pig, diced up the potatoes.”
Juan was by no means a troublemaker and didn’t have any enemies, Olivo added.
“He had by no means been in bother, doesn’t have any legal historical past, by no means been stopped by the cops, nothing,” Olivo stated. “He at all times seemed good and clear. He beloved to look good and bougie . . . at all times dressed to impress.”
Juan “beloved culinary arts,” and simply three days earlier than his tragic demise, he visited his aunt – who lives on a distinct ground of the identical constructing – to convey her meals.
Olivo recalled her nephew telling her, “Tia, I’m good, I’m going into the Navy, I’m joyful. I simply took an examination.”
She stated she advised him, “That’s the perfect factor you may do and I’m pleased with you and I do know you’re going to be an amazing soldier and a hero.”
Juan had hoped his profession with the Navy would assist him present a future for his household and in the end purchase his mother a home, his aunt stated.
“He was a hero right here to us,” Olivo stated. “Think about to serve this nation… that’s one boy much less [in] our army. Why? Due to [the] crime that’s occurring. That’s not honest.”
“These public officers, they should notice that the crimes are taking away tomorrow’s future,” she added. “It’s so unhappy at 18 years outdated. Your life begins if you find yourself 18. They took his life away.”
No arrests had been made in connection to the teenager’s homicide by Wednesday.
In the meantime, Oivo urged the individual liable for the lethal taking pictures to “be a person” and give up to cops.
“The one that did this should pay with all the load of the legislation. They’re a hazard to those streets.”
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