Police say they've arrested the gunman who fired the stray bullet that fatally struck a woman walking to pick up her niece from school in the Bronx Wedneday.
The alleged shooter, 17-year-old Orlando Oquendo, was taken into custody for questioning in the shooting that killed 45-year-old Maribel Cavero-Reyes at about 1 p.m. on East 154th Street in Melrose Wednesday. Charges are pending, police say.
It's not clear if Oquendo has an attorney.
Sources have said a gunman fired at another person hundreds of feet away from where the woman was crossing the street. The bullet missed, however, and hit Cavero-Reyes, who was pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital.
A witness who wanted to remain anonymous recalled, "I was standing on the sidewalk walking across the street. I hear an explosion like a flat tire. I turned around and I hear she's screaming. I saw she was facing down on the ground."
Cavero-Reyes' 13-year-old niece said her aunt was on her way to pick her up from school when she was shot.
"My aunt picked me up from school, she brought me to school, she took care of me. She helped me with my struggles," Gabriela Encalada said. "She was always there for me. She acted as if I were here second daughter."
