{"id":307196,"date":"2026-07-28T00:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T00:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/307196\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T00:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T00:16:07","slug":"news-12-bronx-mother-community-mourns-12-year-old-boy-killed-in-bronx-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/307196\/","title":{"rendered":"News 12 | Bronx | Mother Community Mourns 12 Year Old Boy Killed In Bronx Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">The mother of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes spent Monday at a memorial built just feet from where her son was fatally shot in Mount Eden.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Family, friends and neighbors gathered at the growing memorial near the scene of Saturday&#8217;s shooting, embracing Jacob&#8217;s mother as she grieved the loss of her son. Flowers, candles and other tributes were left in his memory.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Those who knew <a data-rich-text-hyperlink=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/bronx.news12.com\/authorities-identify-12-year-old-boy-slain-in-mount-eden-bodega-shooting\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jacob<\/a> said they are still struggling to come to terms with his death.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">&#8220;Ever since we found out, it&#8217;s been a shock to me,&#8221; said Ariana Hernandez, who grew up with Jacob.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Hernandez remembered Jacob as an active child who enjoyed spending time outside.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">&#8220;He used to be riding his bike back and forth to be playing the ball, soccer and football. That was a nice memory I had,&#8221; Hernandez said. &#8220;He liked riding his bike and walking his dog Max. He&#8217;d always have Max with him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Cynthia Hernandez, who also grew up with Jacob, said the loss has devastated the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">&#8220;He was a nice boy. Everybody knew him in the block. He was very respectful. We saw him grow up so it&#8217;s very tragic this happened,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Police have charged <a data-rich-text-hyperlink=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/bronx.news12.com\/nypd-arrests-suspect-in-fatal-shooting-of-12-year-old-bronx-boy-jacob-freytes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">45-year-old William Ferrer<\/a> in connection with the shooting.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Ferrer was escorted from the 44th Precinct in handcuffs Sunday afternoon following his arrest.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">As detectives led him to an unmarked police vehicle, News 12 asked, &#8220;What do you have to say to Jacob&#8217;s mother?&#8221; Ferrer did not respond.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Jacob&#8217;s mother was too emotional to speak publicly Monday.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Neighbors said they hope the tragedy serves as a reminder to cherish loved ones.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">&#8220;Love your loved ones, give your kids a hug today,&#8221; one neighbor said.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Ferrer was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty on charges including second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and other counts in connection with the shooting.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">RELATED: 1<a data-rich-text-hyperlink=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/bronx.news12.com\/12-year-old-boy-killed-2-men-injured-in-mount-eden-shooting\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2-year-old boy killed, 2 men injured in Mount Eden shooting<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes spent Monday at a memorial built just feet from where her son&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-307196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307196","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=307196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}