{"id":9963,"date":"2025-10-20T21:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/9963\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T21:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:22:08","slug":"wanted-suspect-idd-in-shooting-death-of-bronx-father-from-belize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/9963\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanted suspect ID’d in shooting death of Bronx father from Belize"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cops have identified a suspect in the fatal August shooting of a Bronx father<\/a> \u2014 and are asking the public\u2019s help tracking the wanted man down.<\/p>\n

Evaristo Melendez, 47, is being sought in the shooting of Clay Monsanto Jr., 32, who was shot in the back near E. 176th St. and Anthony Ave. in Morris Heights about 8:10 a.m. Aug. 26.<\/p>\n

NYPD officials named the suspect and released a photo of him Monday.<\/p>\n

Monsanto was the fourth member of his family to be murdered, after his father and two brothers were slain in his native Belize.<\/p>\n

Melendez was wearing a black hooded sweater, black pants and blue sneakers when he fled the scene, cops said. He has a criminal history going back to 2001, according to police.<\/p>\n

Medics rushed Monsanto Jr. to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a very personable person, very charismatic,\u201d said the victim\u2019s wife, Nikkea Molina, who has a 4-year-old son and a daughter bornearlier this year with Monsanto Jr.<\/p>\n

\"ClayVictim Clay Monsanto Jr.<\/p>\n

Cops found a gun in Monsanto\u2019s back right pocket after he was killed, NYPD officials said. Eight shell casings were recovered from the scene.<\/p>\n

Monsanto Jr. immigrated to the United States as a teenager in 2008, fleeing violence in his home country of Belize.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelize is a rough place,\u201d Molina said. \u201cWith all the problems happening down there, his family felt it was better for him to be away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ClayVictim Clay Monsanto Jr.<\/p>\n

Monsanto\u2019s brother Kadeem Monsanto was\u00a0shot to death<\/a>\u00a0in the Backatown area of Belize City in 2011 at age 17. Another brother, Claymar, was tragically shot and killed as an infant in 2002, dying in his father\u2019s arms from a bullet likely meant for the dad, Clay Monsanto Sr., 52,\u00a0according to local reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Monsanto Sr.\u2019s own life came to a violent end when the alleged former gang leader was shot just days before Easter\u00a0in a 2024 attack at his home in Belize after being deported from the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Colin Mixson \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

A memorial for Clay Monsanto Jr. (Colin Mixson \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Monsanto Jr. struggled coming to terms with his brothers\u2019 violent deaths but had by the time of his father\u2019s murder developed a spiritual resilience that allowed him to weather that tragedy with grace, his wife said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt affected him a lot when he was younger,\u201d Molina said. \u201cThe recent passing of his dad, I was shocked at how he handled it. He looked at it like, this is not the end. He really feels there\u2019s an afterlife. Like this definitely wasn\u2019t the end. That\u2019s how he felt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ClayThe day Monsanto Jr. was killed, cops\u00a0released surveillance footage of the suspect and asked the public\u2019s help identifying him. (NYPD)<\/p>\n

The day Monsanto Jr. was killed, cops\u00a0released surveillance footage<\/a> of the suspect and asked the public\u2019s help identifying him.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information on Melendez\u2019s whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers<\/a> at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cops have identified a suspect in the fatal August shooting of a Bronx father \u2014 and are asking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9964,"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":["post-9963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","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\/9963","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=9963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}