Bystander killed in Bronx subway shooting hoped to return to family in Mexico
NEW YORK — The innocent bystander shot to death in a clash between rival gangs in a Bronx subway station was a hardworking immigrant who dreamed of returning to his wife and children in Mexico.
Obed Beltrán-Sánchez planned to return to his home in Mexico next year, where his wife, two children, ages 12 and 7, and parents live, according to Mexican outlet La Silla Rota.
“He was very hardworking, an excellent person,” a friend of his in Mexico messaged the Daily News in Spanish. “He faced a tremendous struggle but in short he was a great human being.”
The friend, who used to work with him at a post office in Mexico, told The News Beltrán-Sánchez left his home in Mexico two years ago, working in Canada before coming to New York City to support his family.
He planned to work construction in New York for one more year before returning to Tehuacán, a city in southern Mexico.
“Sometimes people judge without knowing exactly why we fight day by day,” the friend said. “There is good and evil and believe me he was just looking for the same things a lot of people want: To finish building his house and try to return home, because he loved his family.”
Beltrán-Sánchez called his wife just moments before the fatal shooting, as he was coming home from work at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, according to Mexican newspaper La Jornada Oriente.
He and wife, Samantha Arellano, had just celebrated their 14th anniversary. Arellano told the Spanish-language news outlet her husband called her every day.
“He was an incredible dad,” the victim’s wife told the outlet in Spanish, adding that he was not, contrary to some reports, homeless. “He was an incredible husband. He was a very nice, very loving man.”
The family is hoping his body can be brought back to Mexico soon.
Jorge Islas, Consul General of Mexico in New York, wrote on Twitter that he’s personally expressed his condolences to Beltrán-Sánchez’s family and is working to support them.
The 35-year-old met his untimely death after two gangs randomly encountered each other aboard an uptown No. 4 train car pulling into the Mt. Eden stop. The argument between the men escalated as the young men pulled guns and started firing, hitting Beltrán-Sánchez multiple times in the chest as he stood on the elevated platform.
Five others were wounded, They range in age from 14 to 71, cops said.
On Tuesday, the NYPD released video detailing the incident, asking for the public’s help in hunting down the “cowards” who shot up the train stop.
“Six people, six New Yorkers shot,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said during the two-minute video. “One lost their life. Help us bring some closure to the innocent victims that were on board that train.”
A 15-year-old boy may have been the intended target of the gang members, police sources said. He was shot in the thigh and right ear and is a suspect in a prior non-fatal shooting that occurred north of the station.
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(With Emma Seiwell, Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy)
