{"id":153958,"date":"2026-03-05T13:52:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/153958\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T13:52:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:52:06","slug":"bronx-high-schooler-told-to-be-safe-by-friend-moments-before-being-shot-to-death-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/153958\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronx high schooler told to ‘be safe’ by friend moments before being shot to death: family"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bronx high schooler was told to \u201cbe safe\u201d by a friend moments before being shot to death<\/a> walking home from school, the victim\u2019s devastated family told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

Lamar Simmons, 19, was shot in the chest at E. 183rd St. and Hughes Ave. in Belmont about 2:05 p.m. Wednesday. He was less than half a mile from home when he was slain in broad daylight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good kid,\u201d said the victim\u2019s sister, 30-year-old Letesha Simmons. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t in no gang. He never caused anyone any trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medics rushed Simmons to\u00a0St. Barnabas Hospital<\/a>, where he died.<\/p>\n

Police are searching for three men last seen fleeing the scene on a scooter east on E. 183rd St. No arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

Lamar was heading home from Urban Dove Teen Charter School II<\/a> in Mott Haven when he was killed. He had been walking with a classmate but the pair had split up just moments before the shots rang out, his sister said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and his friend Carmine separated and said, \u2018Be safe.\u2019 Then Carmine heard gunshots,\u201d Letesha said.<\/p>\n

Carmine immediately notified the victim\u2019s family, who sprinted to the emergency room at St. Barnabas Hosptial, which happens to be located less than 1,000 feet from the family\u2019s apartment building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got to the hospital, the cops and the doctors said he passed,\u201d said Letesha. \u201cWhen they first told me in the hospital I was screaming. I still can\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Letesha, Lamar is survived by an older brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep it together,\u201d said Letesha. \u201cHe was the youngest. He was our baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamar dreamed of hitting it big and buying a large house outside the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted to move somewhere nice,\u201d said 18-year-old Rey Valentin, Lamar\u2019s best friend. \u201cNot here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valentin spoke to The News at his late friend\u2019s apartment, where he went to grieve and offer comfort to the victim\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts,\u201d he said. \u201cIt hurts a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bronx high schooler was told to \u201cbe safe\u201d by a friend moments before being shot to death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-153958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-crime","20":"tag-sub-county-region","21":"tag-the-bronx","22":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","23":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}