What to Know
- A woman, thought to be a bystander, and two men died when gunfire erupted near a strip mall in the Bronx on a June morning last year
- Cops say the men, who were shot in the head, appeared to have been targeted; they ID'd a man named Sam Cross as a person of interest
- Witnesses described running for cover under park benches amid the hail of bullets on what was otherwise a quiet morning in the neighborhood
A suspect wanted in a brazen triple homicide outside a Bronx diner in broad daylight last summer, a shooting that sent terrified bystanders running for cover under park benches, may be hiding in coastal South Carolina, authorities said.
A Charleston police department spokesman said cops are helping the NYPD look for Sam Cross in the capital city and nearby Colleton County. He has ties to the state, the spokesman said, but didn't give details on the connections.
Cross was identified in late June as a person of interest in the shooting that killed 45-year-old Arileida Jimenez; 33-year-old Mustafa Tarver; and 33-year-old Christopher Alleyne outside the diner around 10 a.m. June 14.
Authorities said at the time that Jimenez was thought to be an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire; they said Alleyne and Tarver may have been targeted, though no possible motive was discussed.
Tarver was known as Moody to his friends, and Alleyne was called Butta.
"I knew Moody longer than my brothers," said Orie Bynum. "He's that guy. If I ever needed something, he had it. Go somewhere, he's make it happen. Butta was the same way. The coolest person in Castle Hill."
