15-year-old illegal immigrant arrested in connection to Times Square shooting in New York

On Friday, 15-year-old illegal immigrant Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa was arrested for attempted murder after he allegedly shot a tourist and aimed his gun at NYPD in Times Square Thursday night. 

In a video posted to X, the young man was seen in tears as he was being arrested by the NYPD, and his mother cried and yelled uncontrollably as they walked him to their police cars. 

According to the New York Post, Rivas-Figueroa was arraigned and held without bail because prosecutors said he was likely to attempt to flee. 

Police said the Venezuelan teen shot a Brazilian woman in the leg, and shot at a security guard, before fleeing to the subway station. The criminal complaint said, "He then returned to his home, and he and his mother immediately began to flee."

"They packed up all their belongings and by 6 a.m. the next morning had vacated their home and fled out of the city," it continued. They were eventually caught at a house in Yonkers, New York, "where he was hiding behind a wardrobe in a further attempt to evade police." 

"Based on all of this, it’s clear that he is facing a significant sentence of incarceration on this serious case and can not be trusted to return to court,” the complaint added. 

Rivas-Figueroa was charged in the incident as an adult on two counts of attempted murder, assault, attempted assault, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. 

Police added that the young man who has only been in the United States since September was also the suspect in a Jan. 25 shooting in Midtown, and a Jan. 27 armed robbery in the Bronx. 

The woman who was shot was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where she received 13 stitches in her leg, and was expected to head home to Brazil Saturday.