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2w ago

16-Year-Old Arrested in Bronx Killing as Teen Arrests for Fatal Shootings Rise

The arrest underscores tension over focused police patrols near youth gathering spots versus legal limits on charging minors.

FILE - One Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York City Police Department, is in lower Manhattan in New York on Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, file)
FILE - New York Police Department vehicles converge at a scene in Manhattan. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
FILE - New York Police Department vehicles converge at a scene in Massapequa, New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The boy was picked up by Warrants at a Tuesday parole hearing in connection to the slaying of Reyna Caceres, who was shot in the left eye just after midnight May 28 on Aqueduct Avenue near West 181st Street in University Heights, according to police.

Overview

  • Police arrested a 16-year-old on Tuesday and charged him with murder, aggravated manslaughter, criminal weapons possession and reckless endangerment in the May 28 shooting death of Reyna Caceres in the Bronx.
  • City police data show more teenagers have been arrested for fatal shootings so far this year than any other age group, with the suspect in Caceres’s case counted among at least 18 teen arrests since January.
  • By comparison, the NYPD has arrested at least 10 people over age 20 in connection with gun homicides this year, continuing a pattern of higher teen involvement even as total shootings and murders are down through May.
  • The NYPD points to Youth Safety Zones, added in 2025 to concentrate officers at high-risk transit and gathering spots, as driving more than a 60% drop in shootings inside those areas while critics blame the Raise the Age law for reducing legal deterrents for 16- and 17-year-olds.
  • Because the suspect is a minor, police did not release his name and legal protections limit public case details; officials and analysts warn that summer months could change citywide trends and that the case will feed debates over policing and youth diversion policy.