A Bronx mother who had given a bicycle to the 12-year-old son of a retired NYPD sergeant — the same bike he rode to a local bodega before he was killed — is blaming Mayor Zohran Mamdani for what she says is a failure to confront gang violence in the neighborhood.
Jacob Freytes was fatally hit by a stray bullet Saturday just before 5 p.m., when police say a suspected gang member opened fire at rivals near Wanda Deli Grocery on Elliott Place, close to the Grand Concourse.
Miledy Rosario, a Bronx mother of four whose 12-year-old child was friends with Jacob, said officials have not done enough to address the violence around Mount Eden — particularly the corner where the cheerful boy’s life was suddenly cut short.
“I feel that the mayor that’s celebrating in the parade right now should take better care of this block, because there’s a lot of gang members,” Rosario said, referring to Mamdani’s appearance Sunday at the Bronx Dominican parade.
“There’s a lot of gang members. This is not the first time this thing happened here. This has been happening a lot of times. He [the mayor] should know that there is a lot of gangs on that block there, and they had to be a cleanup,” Rosario said.
She said the mayor has spoken publicly about reducing violence, but the danger remains. “He’s talking about stopping violence. But it is still continuing. And so if they don’t clean that block there, we’re gonna continue to see the same thing,” Rosario added. “Before there was police on that corner. But yesterday there was no one there.”
Rosario also described a heartbreaking moment from Friday, just one day before the shooting, when she handed Jacob a used bicycle and remembered how thankful he was to receive it.
“I bought a new bicycle for my daughter, and I asked him, ‘Hey, do you want [her’s]?’” she told The Post.
“He said, ‘Oh, thank you so much. I’m gonna talk to my mom.’ And they gave him permission to have the bicycle. … And, you know, he was really happy,” Rosario said.
“I’m a mom of four kids, and I’m really scared. This kid was just running around on a bicycle, and got shot. Jacob didn’t deserve this.”
The Mount Eden neighborhood is known territory for the violent Trinitarios and Sev Side Pinni street gangs, and sources said police are probing if the crews were behind the shooting.
William Ferrer, 45, was busted outside his home Sunday in the slaying of innocent young Jacob.
Ferrer has a slew of arrests dating back to 1999, including a drug-possession charge in 2013, a marijuana-possession arrest in 2009, a drunken-driving rap in 2009 and a bust for possession of stolen property in The Bronx in 2004, sources said.
Mamdani said in a statement on Saturday that his “heart breaks” for Jacob’s “family, friends and all those who loved him.”
“Their loss is unimaginable. I am praying for the speedy recovery of the other two victims of this shooting. I’m grateful for the hospital staff, and the NYPD for their work to find those responsible for this heinous act,” Mamdani said.
“Our children should be able to ride their bikes on a nice summer day in their neighborhood without fear of being shot. We cannot accept this violence as normal.”
Jacob’s father is retired NYPD Sgt. Jesus Freytes, who once worked in the Bronx precinct where the shooting occurred, sources said.
Rosario’s 12-year-old daughter and Jacob’s grieving pal, Marlyn, also lamented that her friend “was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The senseless shooting has left the Rosario kids traumatized and without their favorite basketball-playing buddy, said dad Daniel Rosario.
“My kids are traumatized. My daughter, who was just talking to you, was in tears yesterday. Crying all night. You see them running around the street now, but they are traumatized,” he said.
“[Jacob] put up a little hoop outside our apartment door, and he would play basketball. He had a little ball. And my son told me last night, ‘Dad, I won’t be able to play basketball no more.’ The kids are traumatized.”
