On the morning of May 9, 2022, 51-year-old Migdalia Ortega was found in her third-floor apartment on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood, Queens, with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Ortega had been a civilian member of the New York City Police Department’s technology bureau for eleven years. The shooting is believed to have arisen from a domestic violence incident involving her boyfriend, 55-year-old Pedro Cintron.

A 48-year-old neighbor who went to check on Ortega was shot by Cintron, sustaining wounds to her abdomen and shoulder. She fled to her own apartment and was later hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Cintron fled the scene in a black vehicle and was the subject of an active manhunt; images of him were released to the public. On May 11, 2022, Cintron was found deceased in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Ortega’s family subsequently filed a lawsuit against the New York City Fire Department and the New York City Police Department, alleging a delay in medical care contributed to her death and seeking $7 million in damages. If anyone knew Migdalia or has information about the events that morning, please come forward.