An elderly man was shot dead in front of his wife Sunday morning on a New York City street by a ski-mask wearing gunman on a bicycle.
Marcelino Valerio, 80, and his wife had just exited a car that was dropping them off near their home when he was shot and killed outside 1209 Ogden Ave. in Highbridge at around 1:10 a.m., police sources told the New York Post. Valerio, who lived about 10 blocks away, was returning from a Sweet 16 party in New Rochelle in Westchester County.
The suspect, who was dressed entirely in black, including a black ski mask, rode up next to Valerio on the sidewalk and shot him twice – one of the shots striking him point-blank in the head.
Surveillance footage obtained by the New York Post shows Valerio’s wife standing there horrified as two other panicked women rush out of the car and desperately solicit help from people around them.
Shortly before the shooting, the gunman was allegedly seen on the surveillance footage riding past the building in the other direction before circling back to the area when the car pulled up.
After Valerio was shot, the suspect rode away on the bicycle and remains on the loose as of Sunday night. Police have not yet revealed a motive, if any, for the incident.
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Valerio was described as hard-working and calm by the building superintendent for an address where he once lived.
“He wasn’t out in the streets, he was a homebody,” the worker, Rafel De Leon, told the New York Post. “No problems ever arose with him. He was a marvelous person.”
De Leon said Valerio had a wife and a daughter.
