12-year-old killed in shooting outside Bronx bodega

A 12-year-old boy was shot and killed in The Bronx Saturday evening.

Jacob Freytes was shot in the shoulder outside of Supermarket Bodega on Elliot Place in Mount Eden.

Surveillance footage shared by the United Bodegas of America (UBA) shows a scuffle among a group of people outside the bodega just before 5 p.m. The video shows an unidentified person watching the incident, and then appearing to pull a gun and fire into the crowd multiple times before fleeing the scene.

Freytes is seen in the footage leaving the bodega and getting on his bike when the scuffle breaks out. He is watching the scene when the shooting breaks out, then runs back into the bodega. Footage from inside the bodega shows Freytas holding his chest and collapsing in an aisle.

The NYPD said Freytes was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A 25-year-old man and a 34-year-old man were also wounded in the shooting. Police said both of those men are in stable condition.

The UBA is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.

“Every parent in New York should be devastated,” Radhames Rodriguez, president of the UBA, said in a statement. “We owe this family more than prayers. We owe them action. We urge anyone with information to come forward.”

Fernando Mateo, a spokesperson for the UBA and founder of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers (NYSFTD), compared the shooting to a pair of recent attacks on cab drivers in Brooklyn. The NYSFTD is offering $5,000 rewards for information leading to arrests in both of those cases.

Mateo, who previously ran for mayor as a Republican, called on authorities to stiffen penalties for people carrying illegal guns.

“Our call to action is directed to the governor and to the mayor of this city. Let’s get tough on crime,” Mateo said during a press conference on Sunday morning at the scene of the shooting.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the shooting in a social media post, calling Freytes’ killing and its impact on his family and friends “unimaginable.”

“Our children should be able to ride their bikes on a nice summer day in their neighborhood without fear of being shot,” Mamdani wrote. “We cannot accept this violence as normal.”

The NYPD said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing. No arrests had been made as of Sunday morning.

Jill Webb contributed reporting.