The family of slain 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo wept in court while describing the havoc her stray-bullet slaying wreaked on their lives — while the killer offered a terse apology at his Friday sentencing
Jeremiah Ryan, 18, was hit with an agreed-upon prison term of 15-years-to-life by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Rosenblueth.
Ryan pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month for the April 2022 shooting in which he fired a ghost gun at rivals — fatally striking the straight-A teen victim with a stray bullet, and wounding two others.
Before sentencing, Yambo’s heartbroken mom and aunts gave gut-wrenching remarks in court about the impact her senseless death had on all their lives.
“You killed my happiness,” mom Yanely Henriquez said through tears. “You killed my only daughter, leaving my world completely empty and full of sadness.”
Henriquez, who still cares for her two sons, added: “I live with half a heart for my boys who still need me.”
She said she’s plagued with nightmares and “dreams where I can touch her and I do not want to wake up. But then reality hits me and I break all over again.”
The tortured mother said she hopes Ryan never gets released, asserting she doesn’t believe he deserves any more opportunities.
“Even though you were caught and pleaded guilty to your evil crimes, I’m never going to have closure because you can still be released, which I pray you never do,” Henriquez said. “I’m going to use all of my strength to make sure that this will never happen, as you do not deserve a second chance, because Angellyh didn’t get a second chance.”
Yambo’s aunt Lisette Camargo told Ryan that he’s destroyed Henriquez and the whole family — including brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins.
“Our baby was taken from us,” Camargo said. “It’s hard to describe the look and sound of my family around me. It’s hard to describe the look of a mother, looking empty, incomplete, confused, and lost, crying on her baby’s bed, where she will never lay again.”
Her “little cousins… confused, not able to understand what has happened. Instead, excited because they see her face on TV, not understanding she will never come back,” the aunt said.
And Camargo blasted Ryan for showing no regret or contrition.
“You’ve been given so many opportunities to speak on your behalf,” the aunt said. “To make us feel that you have some type of remorse. But time and time again, you decline. Never showing us that you care.”
Ryan coolly and slowly said: “I apologize for my actions. I’m sorry.”
The judge said he hoped the family’s statements sunk in for Ryan — and that the murderer understood the severity of his actions in ending the life “of a beautiful, innocent person.”
The judge said Ryan is lucky that his two other victims survived.
“I hope that listening to all of the family and friends of the victim in this case, you can fully appreciate the devastation that you have left behind because of your violent, callous, and senseless act,” Rosenblueth said.
Ryan was accused of firing six rounds from a 9mm Polymer 80 ghost gun during a street fight with reputed gang rivals near ta Bronx school. Two other students were also injured in the melee.
Outside court afterward, Henriquez said Ryan hadn’t apologized until now — saying his words “didn’t mean nothing.” Even if he spent the rest of his life behind bars, the mom said, “that still doesn’t mean nothing to me because I will never have my daughter.”
The family has since started a charity in Yambo’s name and have become anti-gun activists who specifically want to see ghost guns — unregistered firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home — taken off the streets.
Outside of court, District Attorney Darcel Clark spoke alongside Henriquez, lamenting the family “should not be standing here today.”
“They should be celebrating the fact that she’s in school once again, pursuing our dream to be a doctor and to being the vibrant young woman that she was. But instead, she was shot down by another youth, 17 years old,” Clark said.
The DA vowed to keep working to “stop the flow of ghost guns.”