{"id":311751,"date":"2026-08-02T02:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311751\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T02:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T02:39:26","slug":"jacob-freytes-remembered-as-mom-calls-for-life-in-prison-law-nbc-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311751\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Freytes remembered as mom calls for life-in-prison law \u2013 NBC New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens lined up in The Bronx Saturday for the viewing of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes, exactly a week after he was shot and killed while biking to a bodega to buy a ball in Mount Eden.<\/p>\n

Loved ones are calling for justice following the arrest of a suspect, and the boy\u2019s mother is calling for a new law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got kids of my own. It hits home,\u201d a mourner at the Castle Hill Funeral Home in Parkchester told NBC New York.<\/p>\n

Police have arrested 45-year-old William Ferrer in connection with the deadly shooting.\u00a0 He is charged with murder and attempted murder and has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

People arrived in droves, including on foot and by bike.\u00a0 Many said they personally knew Jacob, describing him as a good kid from a wonderful family who was respectful to others and looked out for those around him.\u00a0 Some said he once aspired to be a police officer like his father.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNBC New YorkNBC New York<\/p>\n

A shirt honors 12-year-old Jacob Freytes, who died from stray bullet one week ago in Mount Eden, The Bronx<\/p>\n

“At one point he told me that he wanted to be a cop. He was very passionate at one point,\u201d said friend Simon Garcia.\u00a0 \u201cBut that\u2019s when he told me he wanted to be a basketball player and I\u2019m like \u2018alright I believe in you.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a heartbreaking moment,\u201d added neighbor Dafne Perez.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-New York City) was among those in attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a murder that has shaken this entire neighborhood borough and city,\u201d he said at a vigil for Freytes on Friday.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis may be a new administration, but it\u2019s already too many, too many community responses, too many children being stolen from our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same Friday vigil, Jacob\u2019s mother, Migdalia Martinez called on Mamdani to help push legislation in her son\u2019s name that would automatically mean life in prison for anyone who killed a child.<\/p>\n

“If someone internally kills a minor, they get life. No, I want reckless (killings) too.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC New York. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC New York journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens lined up in The Bronx Saturday for the viewing of 12-year-old Jacob Freytes, exactly a week after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[128,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-311751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311751","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=311751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}