A Bronx family is mourning the death of a 19-year-old do-gooder who was slain after he tried to break up an altercation outside his sister's Sweet 16 Party on Heath Avenue on Monday night.
"Everything happens for a reason," said Luz DeJesus. "But I don't know why it had to be my son."
Her son, Victor Maldonado, just enlisted in the Navy because he wanted to help people just like his hero Batman, friends and family said. He put off the Navy so he could attend his sister's party, but his family is now planning a funeral instead of his going away.
The 19-year-old was slain by a gunshot wound to the neck Monday night. He was killed, his family said, because he tried to break up a fight between two girls who were scuffling because one didn't hold open a door for the other.
When Maldonado tried to break up the fight, one of the girls told "since you don't know how to mind your business I'm gonna go get my brother," DeJesus said. "The guy came out and he shot my son."
Police say Deshawn Coleman, of the Bronx, fired the fatal shot. Coleman, who has been arrested more than 25 times on previous charges including robbery, burglary and assault dating back to 1996, was arrested late Tuesday on murder and weapons and assault charges, police said.
"Why couldn't you be a man ...be a man about things and just approach my son and say what happened with my sister?" DeJesus said.
A family friend said Maldonado was just looking to make peace.
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"He was very protective of women ...he's just a peace maker, Michelle Colon said. "He didn't want anyone fighting ...he thought it was pointless.
Information on an Coleman's attorney was not immediately available.
