A teenager who gunned down a hardworking immigrant on a Bronx subway platform and wounded another teen in an earlier shooting will spend the next 12 years behind bars, prosecutors said.
The 16-year-old defendant was sentenced to 12 years-to-life in prison for murder, and one-to-three years in prison for attempted murder by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Gayle Roberts.
The teen, who will serve the sentences concurrently, pleaded guilty to both charges on Oct. 20, 2025.
The Daily News is withholding the teen’s name due to his age.
The teen defendant was just 14 years old when he opened fire on the No. 4 train platform at the Mount Eden subway station in Mount Eden during a shootout between rival gangs involving two other gunmen around 4:35 p.m. on Feb. 12, 2024.
A stray bullet fired by the teen struck Obed Beltrán-Sánchez, 35, in the torso, killing him, prosecutors said.
Obtained by NY Daily News
A stray bullet struck Obed Beltrán-Sánchez, 35, in the torso, killing him. (Obtained by Daily News)
Four other bystanders, all heading home from work or school, were wounded in the shooting — including a 14-year-old girl shot in the foot, a 28-year-old man shot in the arm, a 71-year-old man shot in the hand, and a 28-year-old woman shot in the face who required multiple reconstructive surgeries.
The defendant was also struck in the left thigh and left ear, prosecutors said.
About a month earlier, on Jan. 15, 2024, the defendant fired on another group of rival teens near Davidson and West Tremont Aves. in Morris Heights, striking a 17-year-old boy in the leg, according to prosecutors.
Beltrán-Sánchez immigrated to the United States from Mexico, where his wife, two children, ages 12 and 7, and parents live, and where Beltrán-Sánchez planned to return before he was gunned down, according to Mexican outlet La Silla Rota.
“He was very hardworking, an excellent person,” a friend in Mexico messaged the Daily News in Spanish. “He faced a tremendous struggle but in short he was a great human being.”
The friend, who used to work with him at a post office in Mexico, told The News Beltrán-Sánchez left his home in Mexico two years ago, working in Canada before coming to New York City to support his family.
He planned to work construction in New York for one more year before returning to Tehuacán, a city in southern Mexico.
“Sometimes people judge without knowing exactly why we fight day by day,” the friend said. “There is good and evil and believe me, he was just looking for the same things a lot of people want: To finish building his house and try to return home, because he loved his family.”
Another teen, Langel Jones, was also arrested for the shooting. He is due back in court for charges including murder, assault and reckless endangerment, among others, on Monday.
