On Monday night, a 19-year-old Bronx man was fatally shot at 2805 Heath Avenue. Police and relatives say that Victor Maldonado had tried to stop a fight between two girls outside an apartment building around 10:20 p.m. Last night, the police announced the arrest of one of the girls' brothers, Deshawn Coleman, who has 25 prior arrests, for the murder.
The Daily News has details on the fight that prompted Maldonado's death, as well as two other people injured in the gunfire. The victim's father, also named Victor Maldonado, said, "It was something about courtesy. One girl was walking out, holding the door for the girl who was walking in." When the girl who held the door open didn't hear thank you, she apparently snarked, "You're welcome."
Then the other girl “started mouthing off,” he said.
At that moment, Maldonado was heading home from a basketball court, saw the girls squabbling, and intervened when he recognized the girl who had been slighted.
“Mind your own business,” the alleged shooter’s sister said, according to the victim’s dad. “She went upstairs and told her brother.”
Minutes later, Maldonado lay mortally wounded on a Bronx street. He died a few hours later, police said.
Maldonado's mother wondered, "Why couldn’t he be a man and just ask my son what happened?" and added that the girl who didn't say thank should be taken in as well, "She's the reason why this happened.”
Coleman, whose past arrests include robbery, burglary and assault, was charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault. Maldonado was planning on enlisting in the Navy; a friend told NY1, "He was one of the few friends I had that actually graduated high school. This is just sad how one of my closest friends that influenced me and teached me how to think positive, they just take him like that."
