The disgruntled Bronx tenant accused of fatally shooting the superintendent of his building and injuring two people appears to have died while being held at Rikers Island Saturday afternoon, the Daily News learned.
DOC officials reported Jimmy Avila, whose age was given as 44, was pronounced dead around 4:29 p.m. at Rikers’ West Facility after EMS rushed to his aid and tried to revive him, according to the NYC Department of Correction.
Based on custody records, the dead detainee is believed to be the man arrested for fatally shooting the building’s super, Ryan Hines, 37, in the chest. A request to DOC for confirmation was not immediately returned. It was unclear how Avila died.
News 12, the station Avila contacted after the shooting, reported late Saturday citing sources that the dead detainee was Avila.
“Our hearts are heavy with the loss of an individual in our care,” DOC Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie said in a statement. “We mourn his passing and extend our sympathies to his loved ones. We will thoroughly investigate the circumstances of this tragic event.”
Avila was held without bail following his arraignment at Bronx Criminal Court on Friday. He was set to appear in court in the Bronx on Sept. 2. He was facing charges of murder, attempted murder and multiple weapons possession charges for fatally shooting Hines, 37, in the chest inside the College Ave. apartment building near E. 170th St. around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, officials said.
Avila also struck and wounded Orlando Nieves, 62, who was identified by his wife and was a fellow tenant standing next to Hines when the shooting broke out. Nieves was struck in the arm, with the bullet then going into the side of his chest.
“My husband got hit twice,” Nieves’ spouse, who gave her name only as Ebony, told the Daily News. “He was ducking down, and I was pulling him through the door.”
“The super ran out, and [the suspect] chased him outside,” she added.
A 59-year-old man, who is believed to be homeless according to News 12, was also shot in the buttocks, as Avila continued to shoot Hines as Avila chased the super into the backyard, officials said. The wounded man later showed up at an area hospital and was expected to recover.
Medics rushed Hines and Nieves to an area hospital, where the super died.
After the shooting, Avila, who had an established mental health history with two documented incidents with the NYPD, hid in his first-floor apartment and reached out to News 12 Bronx, claiming that he wouldn’t surrender until the outlet arrived to film it.
“I didn’t mean to do this, but I had to do it because these people were threatening my life,” Avila told News 12 Bronx when he called the station.
