Mourners gathered in the Bronx on Sunday to remember 12-year-old Jacob Freytes, who was killed after being struck by a stray bullet while riding his bicycle.
Family, friends and neighbors attended Freytes’ wake, joined by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Freytes’ mother, Milgdalia Martinez, said she spoke with Mamdani during the wake.
“He said he was going to help,” Martinez said. “We did speak, and when you guys do see changes, just know it was on Jacob’s name.”
Candy Faber, a friend of Martinez, remembered Jacob as a child surrounded by a loving family.
“He was raised by some great parents. He had a great family. He had great support,” Faber said. “It was just so unfortunate that he left us in that kind of way.”
Friends said they are still struggling to process Jacob’s death.
Fifteen-year-old Simon Garcia, who lives in the same building as the Freytes family, said the 12-year-old was kind, energetic and loved basketball.
“He was very generous, he was very thoughtful, very energetic and just a funny kid,” Garcia said. “Me and him would always be playing basketball outside because there was a little courtyard where we all live, and I remember him saying he wanted to be a basketball player when he grew up. I always believed in his dream.”
Garcia said he was with Jacob just moments before the shooting.
“He told me that he would be right back and that he was going to go buy a ball, and I said, ‘All right, be careful,'” Garcia said. “That was the last time I saw him.”
Police said Freytes was riding his bicycle to a neighborhood bodega on July 25 to buy a ball when gunfire erupted during a fight outside the store. Investigators said he was struck by a stray bullet.
Surveillance video shows a group of men fighting in a crosswalk before one of the men pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots, according to investigators.
Hours after the shooting, the NYPD announced the arrest of 45-year-old William Ferrer, charging him with second-degree murder and other offenses. Police said he pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was ordered held without bail.
Maria Lopez, with the anti-violence organization Guns Down Life Up, said seeing so many children at the wake was especially heartbreaking.
“These kids need to be right now in the parks, playing in the pool, enjoying the weather,” Lopez said. “But meanwhile, they’re in the front of a home, seeing their friends, saying their last goodbye in a casket. That’s not right. That’s not fair.”
Neighbor Dafne Perez, who said she has known the family since Martinez was pregnant with Jacob, remembered him as a bright child with a promising future.
“He was just a very, very bright kid. He had a future, a bright future ahead of him,” Perez said. “I just wish I could’ve got to see him live his whole life. It’s just a heartbreaking moment.”