A Bronx boy killed stray bullet case has shaken a Mount Eden block after a 12-year-old riding his bicycle outside a neighborhood bodega was struck during a burst of gunfire, and prosecutors now have a suspect in custody facing a murder charge.

William Ferrer, 45, was arrested Sunday morning. The New York Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that he faces murder, two counts of attempted murder, manslaughter, six counts of assault and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

What Police Say Happened

According to investigators, the shooting broke out during a chaotic confrontation outside Wanda Deli Grocery on Elliot Place, near the Grand Concourse, shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday.

Jacob Freytes was on his bike near the store when shots were fired. He was hit in the shoulder and rushed to NYC Health and Hospitals/Lincoln, where he was pronounced dead. Police have described him as an innocent bystander with no connection to whatever dispute preceded the gunfire.

Two other men were wounded. A 34-year-old was shot in the foot and a 25-year-old in the buttocks. Both were listed in stable condition.

The Video That Made It Real

Surveillance footage released by United Bodegas of America has circulated widely, and it is the reason this case has landed so hard across the city.

The recording shows Jacob stepping out of the bodega after buying a ball and climbing onto his bicycle. Seconds later, as shooting erupts outside, he appears in the frame again — running back through the door clutching his chest before collapsing on the floor while customers look on in horror.

Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for United Bodegas of America, described the sequence during a Sunday press conference outside the store. The boy was a regular there, he said, and he ran back inside because it was somewhere he knew, somewhere safe. He did not make it. Twelve years old.

Mateo also voiced an exhaustion that has become familiar in these moments, saying the organization is tired of holding press conferences about gun violence — in bodegas, in taxis, on the street.

Officials React

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the arrest Sunday and described Jacob’s death as an act of senseless gun violence.

Writing on X, she said the boy was simply an innocent bystander on his bike when he was taken from his family, and acknowledged that no arrest can undo the loss. She pledged that the department would continue doing everything in its power to seek justice for him.

The mayor said his heart broke for the family, friends and everyone who loved the boy, calling their loss unimaginable. Children, he said, should be able to ride bicycles through their own neighborhoods on a summer afternoon without fear of being shot, and the city cannot allow that kind of violence to be treated as ordinary. He added that he was praying for the recovery of the two surviving victims and thanked hospital staff and the NYPD for their work identifying those responsible.

The office of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also issued a statement, saying nothing could be more tragic than a child on a bicycle killed by a stray round. The office described children’s safety as a shared responsibility and urged officials to move urgently on strategies already shown to reduce violence.

The Suspect’s Record

According to the New York Post, citing law enforcement sources, Ferrer has had repeated contact with the criminal justice system dating back to 1999.

That history reportedly includes arrests on allegations involving drug possession, drunken driving, possession of stolen property, menacing and criminal contempt.

Prior arrests are not convictions, and none of that record establishes what happened Saturday afternoon. It will, however, become part of the conversation around bail, detention and how the case proceeds — as it typically does when a defendant with a lengthy history faces a homicide charge.

Why Stray-Bullet Deaths Cut So Deep

Every shooting death is a loss. Cases like this one register differently in a city, and the reason is worth naming.

There is no dispute to trace, no relationship to examine, no version of events in which the victim made a choice that placed him at risk. A boy bought a ball and got on his bicycle. The randomness removes the psychological distance people instinctively construct around violence — the quiet reassurance that it happens somewhere else, to someone involved in something.

Dense residential blocks amplify the danger. Elliot Place is lined with apartment buildings, storefronts and sidewalk traffic. A round fired on a street like that has nowhere safe to go.

The Role of the Bodega

The footage also underscores something about what corner stores mean in New York neighborhoods.

Bodegas function as more than retail. They are where kids buy candy on the way home, where neighbors trade news, where people know each other’s names. That is precisely why Jacob ran back through that door — not because it offered protection, but because it was the closest thing to home within reach.

United Bodegas of America has spent years pressing for stronger protections for store owners and workers, and its release of the video reflects a deliberate decision to make the human cost visible rather than abstract.

What Comes Next

Ferrer will face arraignment on the full slate of charges, and the case now enters the standard pretrial process. Prosecutors will need to establish who fired, at whom and why, drawing on the bodega footage, additional surveillance from surrounding buildings, ballistic evidence and witness accounts.

Nothing in the charges represents a finding of guilt, and the allegations will be tested in court over the months ahead.

For a family on Elliot Place, none of that changes the arithmetic. A 12-year-old went out to buy a ball on a Saturday afternoon and did not come home.

Anyone struggling in the aftermath — including witnesses and neighbors who saw what happened — can seek support through local crisis counseling services.