Suspect nabbed in New Year's Day shooting death of Bronx dad of four
A suspect has been nabbed in the fatal shooting of a Bronx father of four early on New Year's Day, police said Wednesday.
NYPD warrants officers arrested Leviathan Siafu, 46, late Monday for the murder of Mario Fowler across the street from Claremont Park.
Cops called to E. 170th St. near Teller Ave. found Fowler, also 46, with bullet wounds to both legs inside his apartment building, where he ran to after being shot down the block at about 5:20 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Medics transported Fowler to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died.
Responding officers found a 23-year-old man with a graze wound to the chin in front of an apartment building about a block away on Clay Ave. Medics took him to Lincoln Hospital with a minor wound.
One witness, who wanted to be unnamed, said he saw Fowler near the building's steps laid out and bleeding while two police officers tried to render aid.
'They said he was not responsive, that's when I knew he was gone,' the witness said after the shooting. 'Everybody in the building knew him. He was a really good guy.'
A trail of blood was seen near the building's steps.
A next-door neighbor to Fowler, Cielo Ortiz, 72, remembered him as a 'respectful person.'
'He was a good family man. He had four kids, three of them grown,' Ortiz said.
It was not immediately disclosed why Siafu targeted Fowler.
The suspect lives in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, according to cops.
Investigators charged Siafu with murder, manslaughter, weapon and drug possession. He complained of pain and was taken to the hospital after his arrest.
His arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court was pending Wednesday.
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