Teen shoots, kills 41-year-old father on Bronx MTA bus after he asked him to lower phone volume
Pettigrew was a single father who had just gotten full custody of his 7-year-old daughter.
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Pettigrew was a single father who had just gotten full custody of his 7-year-old daughter.
A 41-year-old father was gunned down after confronting a teen for talking too loudly on his phone while riding a Bronx MTA bus in New York City. Jonathan Pettigrew died at Jacobi Medical Center from wounds to his stomach.
The victim was shot on a Bx36 bus on E. Tremont Ave. near White Plains Road around 2:30 p.m., authorities say.
The perpetrator is still at large. If the suspect is apprehended and confirmed to be under 18, the case could fall under New York's Raise the Age law, which increased the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. Under the legislation, most 16 and 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors are treated as juveniles and have their cases heard in family court. Some say this has embolded juveniles who may offend the law.
Pettigrew’s family said he was a single father who had just gotten full custody of his 7-year-old daughter and was building a life, working at a restaurant and getting an apartment.
His family recounted how they felt after receiving the news of their relative’s death.
"I called my cousin, she told me and I dropped my phone in the pizzeria and I just started screaming, everybody started coming to me and I was screaming, I can't even comprehend how I'm feeling right now," said the victim's relative, Dana Hammond, to ABC 7.
"I really want justice for my brother, no matter what the cost, it wasn't right, it shouldn't have gone that far in the first place, and plus it happened in the city transit," said the victim's brother, Avery Pettigrew. "It's not good for our community."
Surveillance video shows passengers running away from the bus after the gunshots. One of the witnesses described the chaos.
"I just saw a whole bunch of commotion, a whole bunch of people outside, where the bus is parked is actually not a bus stop so that's how it caught my attention," said witness Destiny Flores to ABC 7. "A whole bunch of people were outside when we went outside. The cops were already outside. We thought maybe somebody was hit by the bus until one of the kids on the bus came across the street and let us know that it was a shooting."
MTA officials say that this is the first homicide on a bus this year.
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