The 20-year-old gunman who gunned down two men six days apart at the same street corner in the Bronx last summer believed that his second victim witnessed his first killing — and was tying up any loose ends, prosecutors said Saturday.
Jailyn Wagner was ordered held without bail during his arraignment Thursday after he was indicted on murder, manslaughter and gun possession charges.
“[He] allegedly killed his landlord, and just days later allegedly killed a possible witness to the slaying,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said. “We are bringing him to justice and will continue to hold perpetrators of gun violence accountable.”
Cops grabbed Wagner at an East Harlem shelter on Monday.
He’s accused of shooting Idriss Cherif El Farissy in the head last July 23 right outside the vicitm’s home on E. 176th St. near Mohegan Ave. and Crotona Park just before 3 a.m., cops said.
El Farissy, 28, rented an apartment to Wagner and one of his parents, neighbors said.
At the time of the shooting, the gunman was seen rifling through El Farissy’s pockets before running off. The victim, a Moroccan immigrant and Papa Johns deliveryman, had just arrived home from work and was parking his car. He died at the scene.
Idriss Cherif El Farissy
Days later, on July 29, shortly before 8 p.m., Roman Martinez, 39, was shot in the head multiple times by a gunman who fired into his RV camper where the victim was living after his recent divorce.
Martinez’s RV was parked half a block from the earlier shooting, prosecutors said.
Detectives believe Wagner thought Martinez saw him shoot El Farissy and ride a Citi Bike to a nearby park, where he changed his clothes and returned to the scene of the crime.
Neighbors speculated that Martinez, who enjoyed having friends over to his RV to hang out and listen to music, was killed over something he saw during the first shooting — but the victim had told people he didn’t see anything.
“He didn’t even hear the gunshots,” friend Jose Alvarez told the Daily News at the time of the killing. “He was sleeping.”
After shooting Martinez, Wagner again ran to a park, changed his clothes and walked home, prosecutors said.
Ironically, Wagner was photographed fleeing Martinez’s RV. Those pictures, plus video and other witness statements, helped link him to the double killing, police said.
“We knew that at some point whoever did this was going to be arrested,” El Farissy’s fiancée, Maria, told the Daily News. “We’re obviously devastated by the news that it was someone that we knew. But we are also very glad that that person is in custody.”
Martinez, meanwhile, was a hard-working building superintendent, Antonio Gaud, the victim’s former father-in-law, said.
“Everybody loved him in this area,” Gaud said. “He was a nice guy.”
