A 9-year-old boy from New York City was shot and killed in what police are calling a botched robbery less than an hour after landing in the Dominican Republic for spring break
Officials from the Dominican Republic said that on Wednesday, April 19, when Gioser Luis Féliz, 9, and his family arrived in Santiago, they were traveling in a rental car when a gang of six males started to follow them.
According to authorities in the Dominican Republic, the males allegedly followed the rental car from Cibao International Airport and made an effort to stop and rob it. Sergio Luis Feliz, the boy’s father, and at least one other passenger were also in the car.
One of the robbers fired when the gang continued to move, hitting the fourth-grader in the head.
Gioser passed away after surgery after the horrific assault.
Six of the males had been detained by Santiago police as of Friday, April 21. Unsettlingly, Sergio, Gioser’s father, was reportedly friends with at least one of the suspects, according to Santiago News Outlet SIN News.
Luis Abinader, the president of the Dominican Republic, tweeted that five arrests had been made and described the homicide as a “horrendous crime.”
I have been investigating the death of the child Gioser Luis Féliz ever since I learned about it. In a tweet that was translated, Abinader wrote. “The Director of the National Police has informed me that the five criminals responsible for this heinous crime have been apprehended. The courts must now provide justice.
Gioser’s father told FOX 5 New York that he thinks the robbers may have targeted them because of a picture of him and his kid that was uploaded to social media immediately before they left.
According to family members, Gioser’s body will be flown back to the United States in the coming days.
