The victim, Cristobal Alfredo Ixquier Mejia, was drinking at a deli at 147th Place and Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica when two suspects approached and asked about his choice of clothing, police said.
“My brother wasn’t in any type of group or gang,” Mejia’s heartbroken older brother Antonio Rolando Ixquier Mejia, 23, told the Daily News.
A 19-year-old steered clear of gangs, but his red jacket got him killed anyway by two men who asked if he was a member of the Bloods, police said Friday.
Victim Cristobal Alfredo Ixquier Mejia was drinking at a deli at 147th Place and Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica when two suspects approached and asked about his choice of clothing, police said.
Red is the signature color of the Bloods.
The question sparked a fistfight that spilled outside just before 10 p.m., police said. Mejia was shot in the chest.
Murder victim Cristobal Alfredo Ixquier Mejia
“My brother wasn’t in any type of group or gang,” Mejia’s heartbroken older brother Antonio Rolando Ixquier Mejia, 23, told the Daily News.
An NYPD spokesman said there is no indication Mejia had gang ties.
Antonio recalled walking with another sibling, Diego Federico Ixquier Mejia, to the deli when they saw their younger brother fighting for his life with the two suspects — one of whom was wearing blue.
Diego Federico Ixquier Mejia, 21, was with his brothers Cristobal and Antonio when they were attacked. (Liam Quigley/New York Daily News)
Blue is associated with the Bloods’ rival gang, the Crips.
“The guy just punched my brother,” Diego, 21, told The News, adding that the attack appeared unprovoked.
Cristobal managed to break away from his attacker and ran a few blocks toward Jamaica Ave., but one of the suspects opened fire, Diego said.
“He had a pistol, and then he shot my brother,” Diego added. “We ran to the park, shouting for the police.”
The deli where the altercation began. (Liam Quigley/New York Daily News)
Responding officers arrested Shareese Smith near the scene and charged him with murder and gun possession. Police found a 9-mm handgun, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether Smith is suspected of firing the fatal shot.
Smith has two sealed arrests on his record, police sources said. Efforts to find his family were unsuccessful.
The second man ran off and was still being sought.
Medics rushed Cristobal to Jamaica Hospital but he could not be saved.
