In the early morning hours of July 27, 2022, Jayshua Choco Nivar, 20, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in front of a deli on East 187th Street in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx. A 4:09 a.m. call brought police to the scene; Nivar had been shot twice in the head and once in the hip, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, and was pronounced dead. At the time he had been out on bail after a recent arrest for possession of a loaded firearm.

Witnesses reported seeing two men flee in a gray sedan shortly after the shooting, and detectives described two suspects, one dressed in all white and the other in all black. A memorial formed outside Nivar’s building as friends and neighbors mourned him as a respectful person and a good father.

On August 12, 2022, the NYPD arrested 25-year-old Aro Matos and charged him with murder, manslaughter, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Investigators later arrested 18-year-old Gregory Almonte and 18-year-old David Polanco on the same charges.