Erica Lopez, 19, was killed on June 26, 2020, after leaving a rooftop bar in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. She and her boyfriend, Andres Arias, had been celebrating a birthday when an altercation began after a woman from another group reportedly groped Lopez. Lopez and Arias left to avoid further trouble, but members of the other party followed them. Near Madison Square Park in the early morning, a car pulled up and a man got out and opened fire on the couple. Lopez pushed Arias out of the path of the bullets and was struck in the chest; she was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. Arias was shot but survived.

Police identified 27-year-old Ruddy Osias of Queens as the alleged shooter; he was arrested the next day and charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of a firearm, and was held without bail after arraignment. Friends and family recalled Lopez as kind and creative, with interests in drawing, poetry, and environmental causes.