A Bronx MTA bus rider shot to death by a teen he confronted for talking loudly on a cell phone was a devoted single father on his way to pick up his daughter from daycare, friends and relatives said Tuesday.
Jonathan Tyquan Pettigrew, 41, had in recent months gotten himself and his little girl out of a shelter and was working in a job where he was happy, his family said.
“We grew up with principles and, you know, we can’t be around a lot of noise and screaming and all that,” said Avery Pettigrew, 43, the victim’s brother.
“My brother, he was always a person who if somebody’s being disrespectful to other people, he’ll try to talk to the person. It went the wrong way. But that shouldn’t have happened on a city bus like that to my little brother. That is out of line.”
Jonathan Pettigrew (pictured) was fatally shot on a Bx36 bus on E. Tremont Ave. near White Plains Road in the Bronx on Monday.
Cops said Pettigrew was on a Bx36 bus on E. Tremont Ave. near White Plains Road Monday afternoon when he confronted a teenage passenger talking loudly on a cell phone.
After an exchange of words, officials said, the teen pulled out a gun and shot Pettigrew twice in the stomach.
Medics rushed the victim to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died.
Police investigate after a 41-year-old man was shot to death on a Bx36 bus in the Bronx on Monday. (Roni Jacobson / New York Daily News)
The shooter fled from the bus, cops said. He was last seen running south on White Plains Road wearing a white T-shirt and carrying a black handgun, according to law enforcement sources.
There have been no arrests. The victim’s brother said the family is in shock.
“I think he was going to get his daughter from the daycare,” Avery Pettigrew said. “He worked every day. He had custody of his daughter. He just got his apartment. He used to pick his daughter.”
The victim was the father of six other children but had sole custody of the little girl. The catering job helped him get out of the shelter and find an apartment.
“He was cleaning, throwing out the garbage,” Avery said of the job. “He’d do a couple of things. Doing dishes, all that stuff, cleaning.”
Pettigrew’s death hit the neighborhood hard.
“He was definitely a good father,” said Kevin, 64, a neighborhood friend of the victim. “He always had her. He talked about her all the time. That was his pride and joy, to make sure she was good. I just asked him yesterday, ‘How’s baby girl?’ and he said, ‘She good.’”
Jonathan Pettigrew (pictured) was fatally shot on a Bx36 bus on E. Tremont Ave. near White Plains Road in the Bronx on Monday.
Kevin said he ran into Pettigrew the morning of the day he was killed at the bus stop, where Pettigrew was waiting for a ride to his job.
“We was just talking yesterday,” the friend said. “He was good. He was talking about the game, basketball, the Knicks game.”
With Rocco Parascandola