Driver in deadly machete attack on 'Junior' Guzman-Feliz sentenced to 12 years in prison, Bronx DA says
A mural to Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz on East 184th Street and Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx on June 12, 2019. Credit: Marisol Diaz-Gordon
A man who was an accessory to murder has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his involvement in the 2018 slaying of 15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz, who was dragged out of a store in the Bronx, repeatedly struck with a machete and then stabbed in a gang-related attack.
Luis Cabrera Santos, 29, who was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Ralph Fabrizio, had pleaded guilty last year to first-degree manslaughter for being a driver in the killing, according to Denisse Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Cabrera Santos, who was also sentenced to five years of post-prison supervision, is one of 13 men involved in the attack, including the five who directly committed the killing; the others played accessory roles, she said.
Cabrera Santos was one of the last defendants to plead guilty and be sentenced. The remaining defendants face sentencing Friday. Those who led the attack, Diego Suero, the leader of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang, and Frederick Then, second-in-command, have been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, the office said in a news release last year.
Guzman-Feliz was attacked at a bodega on East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx’s Belmont section on June 20, 2018. Surveillance video captured the teen as he was dragged from the bodega, repeatedly struck with the machete and stabbed. He ran to a hospital nearby but died from his wounds.
At the time, the NYPD said the attack was the latest violence tied to the Trinitarios street gang, a group of Dominicans who have been in long-standing rivalry with gangs such as the Bloods. Earlier, the Trinitarios also were responsible for beating and stabbing a 14-year-old boy on the median strip of the Bronx River Parkway. The teen sustained up to 16 stab wounds and went into cardiac arrest before medics revived him.
Guzman-Feliz participated in an NYPD youth program and aspired to become a police officer. Celebrities such as Carmelo and La La Anthony, Rihanna and Bronx native Cardi B expressed public condolences.
Guzman-Feliz’s family received Facebook messages from the / killers claiming they had killed the wrong person.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
'It just feels like there's like a pillow on your head' Long Island high school football players have begun wearing Guardian Caps in an attempt to reduce head injuries. NewsdayTV's Gregg Sarra reports.
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