A local mom who gifted the 12-year-old son of a retired NYPD sergeantthe bike he pedaled to the Bronx bodega where he was fatally shotslammed Mayor Zohran Mamdani for not cleaning up the gang-infested area.
Tragic Jacob Freytes was struck by a stray bullet when a possible gangbanger opened fire at rivals by Wanda Deli Grocery at Elliott Place near Grand Concourse shortly before 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Miledy Rosario, a Bronx mother of four, including a 12-year-old friend of Jacob’s, ripped Mamdani for not doing enough to curb gang violence in the Mount Eden nabe — especially the corner where the bubbly boy was gunned down.
“I feel that the mayor that’s celebrating in the parade right now should take better care of this block, because there’s a lot of gang members,” Rosario said, referring to Hizzoner walking in the Bronx’s Dominican parade on Sunday.
“There’s a lot of gang members. This is not the first time this thing happened here. This has been happening a lot of times. He [the mayor] should know that there is a lot of gangs on that block there, and they had to be a cleanup,” Rosario said.
“He’s talking about stopping violence. But it is still continuing. And so if they don’t clean that block there, we’re gonna continue to see the same thing,” she added. “Before there was police on that corner. But yesterday there was no one there.”
Rosario also recalled Jacob’s gratitude when she gifted him a hand-me-down bicycle on Friday — the day before he rode it to his devastating death.
“I bought a new bicycle for my daughter, and I asked him, ‘Hey, do you want [her’s]?’” she told The Post.
“He said, ‘Oh, thank you so much. I’m gonna talk to my mom.’ And they gave him permission to have the bicycle. … And, you know, he was really happy,” Rosario said.
“I’m a mom of four kids, and I’m really scared. This kid was just running around on a bicycle, and got shot. Jacob didn’t deserve this.”
The Mount Eden neighborhood is known territory for the violent Trinitarios and Sev Side Pinni street gangs, and sources said police are probing if the crews were behind the shooting.
William Ferrer, 45, was busted outside his home Sundayin the slaying of innocent young Jacob.
Ferrer has a slew of arrests dating back to 1999, including a drug-possession charge in 2013, a marijuana-possession arrest in 2009, a drunken-driving rap in 2009 and a bust for possession of stolen property in The Bronx in 2004, sources said.
Mamdani said in a statement on Saturday that his “heart breaks” for Jacob’s “family, friends and all those who loved him.”
“Their loss is unimaginable. I am praying for the speedy recovery of the other two victims of this shooting. I’m grateful for the hospital staff, and the NYPD for their work to find those responsible for this heinous act,” Mamdani said.
“Our children should be able to ride their bikes on a nice summer day in their neighborhood without fear of being shot. We cannot accept this violence as normal.”
Jacob’s father is retired NYPD Sgt. Jesus Freytes, who once worked in the Bronx precinct where the shooting occurred, sources said.
Rosario’s 12-year-old daughter and Jacob’s grieving pal, Marlyn, also lamented that her friend “was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The senseless shooting has left the Rosario kids traumatized and without their favorite basketball-playing buddy, said dad Daniel Rosario.
“My kids are traumatized. My daughter, who was just talking to you, was in tears yesterday. Crying all night. You see them running around the street now, but they are traumatized,” he said.
“[Jacob] put up a little hoop outside our apartment door, and he would play basketball. He had a little ball. And my son told me last night, ‘Dad, I won’t be able to play basketball no more.’ The kids are traumatized.”
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