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A 16-year-old boy surrendered to cops to face charges in the Bronx apartment murder of another teen – who he allegedly shot after callously declaring, “I’m going to throw some pain,” cops said.
Kalvin Veloz, turned himself in Tuesday and was charged with murder for allegedly firing a .45 caliber weapon at 15-year-old Riley Billingsley inside a fifth-floor apartment on Claflin Avenue near West 197th Street in Kingsbridge Heights around 5:20 p.m. Aug. 12, authorities said.
Billingsley’s grief-stricken grandmother, Elaine Rogers, 62, told The Post Wednesday by phone that she was thankful for the teen suspect’s surrender.
“I’m definitely grateful that this young man turned himself in,” Rogers said. “Whatever reason he had to turn himself in…the fact that he turned himself in is beautiful.”
“I’d love to know what this was all about,” she added.
The deadly violence erupted when a group of teens — including Billingsley, who did not have a criminal record — were “hanging out in a bedroom,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said last week.
“Our perpetrator here, Kalvin Veloz, produces a firearm from his backpack, inserts a magazine, racks the gun back, and makes a statement, ‘I’m going to throw some pain,’” he said. “And at that point, he shoots Riley in the head, killing him instantly.”
Rogers previously said that her slain grandson’s friends knocked on her door to share the devastating news.
“I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying, you know? ‘He’s been shot.’ I couldn’t grasp their words,” Rogers said at the time. “I can’t even process that portion of it. It’s hard to believe.”
She said Riley’s last words to her earlier in the day were, “‘See you later, G-Ma.’ That’s what he called me.”
A second victim of the apartment gunfire, a 13-year-old boy, was grazed in the chest by a ricocheted bullet that first hit the wall, Kenny added.
He was hospitalized in stable condition.
Investigators believe the shooting was not an accident, according to Kenny.
“We believe that his intention was to shoot,” the chief said. “When he says, ‘I’m going to throw some pain,’ he’s going to shoot somebody.”
The younger victim – who ran home to his family’s apartment after being grazed – claimed that he saw Billingslea and the shooting suspect get into some kind of dispute before the gunfire erupted, law enforcement sources said at the time.
Kenny described the alleged shooter as “a little bit of a hot head, a little bit of a bully” who once previously burned another juvenile victim on the shoulder.
Specific details of that case were unknown because it was never officially reported to police, the chief said.
“This is an evil person. When you hear of the things he did in the past, this is someone I say is evil,” the slain teen’s grandmother said. “Age has nothing to do with it, he has an evil mind.”
Veloz was also charged with attempted murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in the apartment shooting, according to police.
His arraignment was pending Wednesday afternoon, according to Bronx prosecutors.
“Definitely, I want justice for Riley,” his grandmother said. “I hope he gets the help he needs behind bars.”
English (US)