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At about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, members of the Yonkers Police Department responded to the area of Lawrence Street on a report of shots fired.
Upon arrival, officers located a male victim inside the lobby of 19 Lawrence St. with a gunshot wound to his torso, Yonkers Police said.
First Responders immediately rendered medical aid and CPR to the victim, and he was transported to a local area hospital where he ultimately died from his injury, according to police.
Officers cordoned off the area and initiated a criminal investigation.
Detectives from the Major Case Squad and Crime Scene Unit responded to the scene to interview subjects and witnesses, recover surveillance video, and process forensic and ballistic evidence, said police.
The investigation revealed that the victim, identified as 20-year-old Alvaro Vigueras, of Yonkers, was walking on Lawrence Street when a Mercedes-Benz sedan occupied by two men stopped several yards past the victim, said police.
Both men then exited the vehicle and both fired multiple handgun shots in the direction of Vigueras, striking him in the torso, said police.
The men then reentered the vehicle and fled the scene, according to police.
Vigueras ran and collapsed inside the lobby at 19 Lawrence St.
Investigators developed information later that day establishing the identity of the gunman who was operating the vehicle and further identified a person of interest as the passenger.
Over the next several months, working together with prosecutors from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, a grand jury was convened and ultimately indicted the operator on murder charges.
Investigators are continuing to develop information to establish probable cause for criminal charges against the passenger.
On Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, members of the Yonkers Police, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, located the operator at a residence on Hawthorne Avenue in Yonkers and placed him into custody without incident. He is identified as Jonathan Planas, a 32-year-old resident of North Broadway in Yonkers.
Planas was booked on charges including:
- Second-degree murder, a Class A-I felony;
- Criminal possession of a weapon 2, a Class felony.
Planas was remanded into the custody of the Westchester County Department of Corrections pending his next court appearance. The case is being prosecuted by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
“There is no more heinous an act than taking someone’s life, and in this case not one but two violent individuals opened fire in a densely populated neighborhood, killing their innocent target and placing surrounding residents in great danger," Yonkers Police Commissioner John J. Mueller stated. "I commend the outstanding work of our police officers, detectives, and law enforcement partners in delivering one of the perpetrators into the criminal justice system, where he must now face the consequences of his actions and be held to the maximum sentencing allowed by law. And let me say to the second gunman: you’re next.”
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