A Colombian migrant was held without bail after being charged in the fatal Bronx shooting of a 16-year-old boy he mistakenly believed was targeting him for a robbery, while the boy and a friend were actually searching the block for a dropped phone, according to law enforcement sources.
Kenhy Sarrias-Buelvas, 37, appeared in Bronx Criminal Court Thursday to face charges of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in the Aug. 23 shooting of Kemari Sanders.
Kemari was riding a moped with a friend on the back when he dropped his phone, police sources told the Daily News.
The teens circled the block they had just ridden down in search of the missing phone, but as they slowed outside a closed daycare on Bryant Ave. near Jennings St. in Crotona Park East around 1 a.m., Sarrias-Buelvas mistook them for casing him, sources said.
The man fired a gun, striking Kemari in the neck, police said. Medics rushed the teen to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical but stable condition, but his condition deteriorated, and he ultimately succumbed to his injuries on Oct. 4.
Cops investigating the murder tracked Sarrias-Buelvas’s movements after the shooting, finding he fled to a nearby building’s laundry room, discarded his sweatshirt in a dryer and ran off, according to police sources.
A clear surveillance image was captured, but when cops showed it to Kemari before his condition worsened, the teen didn’t recognize him.
DNA from the recovered sweatshirt linked Sarrias-Buelvas to a swab taken when he was taken into custody illegally crossing the border in Laredo, Tex., in December 2023. He was later released by federal authorities, law enforcement sources said.
After plastering a wanted photo around the Bronx neighborhood, a tipster later identified him to cops as someone who sells weed out of a van in the area.
Following the Thursday arraignment, Sarrias-Buelvas was held without bail.
“He’s innocent until proven guilty, and right now, we haven’t heard much in terms of what the prosecution is offering,” his defense attorney said outside the courtroom after the proceeding.
