Original story - Teen Charged With Murder For Fatally Shooting 18-Year-Old In Westchester
Jamir Thompson, now 17, pleaded guilty this week to second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Marilyn Cotto-Montanez as she walked down Morningside Avenue in Yonkers.
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said that Thompson, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was firing at another person, but instead struck Cotto-Montanez in the head, killing her.
Yonkers Police Det. Sgt. Dean Politopoulos said that the initial investigation determined that several people who were familiar with each other were involved in an altercation before the gun went off.
One group wound up allegedly chasing the other, with a suspect, Thompson, displaying a handgun, which went off, striking Montanez in the head, who was uninvolved, Politopoulos said. The suspects then fled the scene.
An alert was issued for Thompson, who later turned himself in to police with his mother.
“One young life was tragically lost and another young life was forever changed on this terrible day,” Rocah said. “We will hold accountable those who commit acts of violence and continue to work on the scourge of illegal guns in our communities and fight to keep them out of the hands of young people.”
Rocah said that Thompson was prosecuted as a juvenile offender and remains remanded. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, Sept. 2, when he will face a term between nine years and life in prison.
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