A 15-year-old migrant was charged as an adult with attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun at a security guard and NYPD cops in Times Square and injuring a tourist in the process.
Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa was set to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court Saturday as he was arraigned in the suspected robbery gone wrong, authorities said.
The teen was charged with two counts of attempted murder, assault, attempted assault, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, cops said.
The US Marshals Joint Regional Fugitive Task Force and the NYPD collared the “armed and dangerous” Venezuelan teen in Yonkers on Friday.
The “crying” teen, clad in a dark T-shirt, jeans, and a gold necklace, was taken into custody at around 3:30 p.m. at what sources said was the home of a relative on Saratoga Avenue.
The arrest came moments after NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, during a news conference, had identified Rivas-Figueroa as a person of interest in the shooting.
The teen arrived in September and had been staying at a temporary shelter at the Stratford Hotel on West 70th Street.
He is also a suspect in a Jan. 25 incident in Midtown in which shots were fired at a park on 45th Street, and a Jan. 27 gunpoint robbery in the Bronx, police said.
Police said Rivas-Figueroa and two other teens — all migrants who attended school together — were trying to shoplift from JD Sports, a sports-fashion retail store, on West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue at around 7 p.m. Thursday when they were stopped by a security guard.
Rivas-Figueroa allegedly pulled out a “very large” .45-caliber handgun and fired at the guard and “into a crowd,” Chell said.
While the guard wasn’t hit, Brazilian tourist, 38-year-old Tatiele Riberio, who was in line waiting to buy sneakers and texting her husband, was struck in the leg and dragged herself to the back of the store as pandemonium ensued.
The gunman and another 15-year-old boy bolted, with Rivas-Figueroa allegedly opening fire on a cop as he ran away toward West 46th Street, Chell said.
Video footage allegedly shows Rivas-Figueroa, who was in an all-white outfit, and the other teen bolting from the store, Chell said.
Cops patrolling the area began chasing them, with one of the officers snatching the unidentified teen and the other continuing to run after the gunman.
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“He turns once, he fires towards our officer,” Chell told reporters of Rivas-Figueroa. “Our officer takes his gun out and he cannot return fire, there are too many people in his way.
“Our suspect goes through the cut between the buildings. He’s running, he takes his gun out and under his armpit, he fires again at our officer,” Chell continued, as he demonstrated how the shooter reached behind his back with the gun.
MTA video footage then showed the suspect bolting into the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station at Sixth Avenue, where he went on the tracks before emerging and escaping onto the street, Chell said.
The innocent shopper who was shot got 13 stitches in her leg at Bellevue Hospital and was released. She was expected to head home to Brazil on Saturday.