8 OCTOBER 11, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES www.qns.com
Mother of woman slain near Ridgewood border
calls for action to stop domestic violence
Ridgewood man hit with murder
charge for killing ex-girlfriend
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
A Ridgewood man is being
held without bail for allegedly
gunning down his
former girlfriend on the Ridgewood/
Bushwick border late on
Sunday night.
Gabriel Rivera, 26, of Linden
Street allegedly shot Sade Sanchez,
24, as she walked with her mother
and her friend in the area of St.
Nicholas Avenue and Menahan
Street at 10:27 p.m. on Oct. 7, police
reported.
Rivera turned himself in to the
83rd Precinct the following day
and was later charged with murder
and criminal possession of a
weapon.
According to published reports,
Rivera allegedly walked up to Sanchez,
pulled out a gun and fired
multiple shots at Sanchez, striking
her in the neck, chest, shoulder and
stomach. He then fled the scene in
an unknown direction.
Officers from the 83rd Precinct
responded to the incident. Sanchez,
who lived on Menahan Street in
Bushwick, just a few steps from
where she had been shot, was
rushed to Wyckoff Heights Medical
Center. She died there moments
later.
On Monday morning, Oct. 8, the
NYPD released Rivera’s mugshot.
According to sources familiar with
the investigation, Rivera has one
prior arrest for a grand larceny
that occurred in March of this year
within the 83rd Precinct’s confines.
According to court records, Rivera
was arraigned in Kings County
Criminal Court on Oct. 9, but must
return to court this Friday, Oct.
12. If convicted, he faces 25 years
to life in prison.
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL
ADOMENECH@QNS.COM
@AODNEWZ
The glowing faces of saints stared
at Sade Sanchez as dozens of
neighbors, friends and family in
Bushwick held each other on Tuesday
night behind a ring of religious candles
circling a framed portrait of the
murdered 24-year-old mother of two.
Sanchez was fatally shot by her
ex-boyfriend while walking home
with her mother and a friend late
Sunday night. On Oct. 9, those who
knew her held a vigil in her honor
and to shed light on the crisis that is
domestic violence in America.
"We are failing victims of domestic
violence," said Congresswoman
Nydia Velasquez at a podium placed
at the corner of Wyckoff Avenue and
Menahan Street — close to Sanchez's
home. An emotional Velasquez said
that Sanchez's death was preventable;
she had taken all of the right steps
after leaving her boyfriend of four
years, Gabriel Rivera, when he started
becoming physically abusive.
Sanchez had filed numerous police
protection reports against Rivera and
had an order of protection, according
to the victim's mother Cynthia Santos.
But it wasn't enough.
According to neighbors, Rivera
had been stalking and harassing the
young mother outside of her home for
a month before deciding to hide behind
a parked car on Menahan Street
and shooting Sanchez five times.
"The system failed my daughter,"
Santos said.
According to a 2017 report from
the New York State Office for the
Prevention of Domestic Violence,
the number of orders of protection
required to be reported in the state
protective order registry reached
a five-year high. Nationally, one in
three women and one in four men has
experienced some form of domestic
violence in their lifetimes. Over half
of the women murdered in the United
States are killed by a current or former
romantic partner.
Assemblywoman Maritza Davila,
Congresswoman Velasquez and
Robert Camacho of Brooklyn Community
Board 4 all spoke about how
the public and the government should
understand the gravity of domestic
violence, which it does not appear to
be doing.
They pointed out the stalled effort
in the U.S. House of Representatives to
renew The Violence Against Women
Act (VAWA), the first comprehensive
piece of legislation passed to end violence
against women, which will expire
on Dec. 7. Not a single Republican,
the party that controls the chamber,
has supported its renewal.
Camacho tearfully called out to the
men in the huddling crowd around
the podium.
"No means no," he said. "Bushwick
knows better than this."
Photo courtesy of NYPD
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell/ ADomenech@qns.com
Cynthia Santos, the mother of Sade Sanchez, address a crowd of family, friends, neighbors and reporters and
calls for more to be done to prevent future senseless deaths like her daughter’s.
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