An assailant riding a bicycle while wearing a ski mask shot and killed an elderly man in New York City in front of his wife on a Sunday morning.
Marcelino Valerio, 80, was shot and killed outside 1209 Ogden Avenue in Highbridge at approximately 1:10 a.m., police sources told the New York Post. His wife and he had just exited a vehicle that had dropped them off near their residence. Valerio, who resided approximately ten blocks away, was returning from a Sweet 16 party in Westchester County’s New Rochelle.
The suspect, who was clad in all black, including a black ski mask, rode up next to Valerio on the sidewalk and fired two shots, one of which struck him in the head.
The New York Post obtained surveillance footage showing Valerio’s wife watching in horror as two other terrified women rush out of the car and beg for help from those nearby.
Shortly before the incident, the gunman was allegedly seen on surveillance footage riding by the building in the opposite direction before circling back to the spot when the automobile drew up.
After Valerio was shot, the suspect fled on a bicycle and was still at large as of Sunday night. Police have not yet determined the incident’s motivation, if any.
The building superintendent for an address where Valerio once lived described him as hardworking and quiet.
“He wasn’t out in the streets, he was a homebody,” Rafel De Leon, the worker, told the New York Post. “He never had any troubles. He was a wonderful individual.”
Valerio, according to De Leon, has a wife and a daughter.
