15-year-old Lisandro “Junior” Guzman’s family have finally received justice over a year after his murder.
What We Know:
- The five men responsible for the attack that ended a young boy’s life have all received life sentences after being found guilty of murder and gang assault a few months prior. Guzman’s story received nationwide outrage along with tremendous amounts of love and support after surveillance footage of the brutal attack surfaced.
- Five Trinitarios gang members attacked Guzman in June 2018 outside of a Bronx bodega where he suffered fatal injuries after being beaten and stabbed multiple times. Guzman, who planned to one day become a police officer, was senselessly robbed of his life.
- During an investigation, law enforcement determined that Jonaiki Martinez Estrella (25) was responsible for the fatal blow that ended Guzman’s life after Estrella stabbed him in the neck. As a result, Estrella was the only one of the five men to receive no possibility of parole. Although he issued an apology to the judge and blamed his action on drugs and alcohol, it didn’t benefit his argument. The judge sentenced Estrella to life in prison.
- In addition to this, the judge delivered the following sentences to the four remaining men. Jose Muniz (23) received 25 years to life along with Antonio Rodriguez Hernandez Santiago (25), and Jose Muniz (23). They gave the shortest sentence of 23 years to Manuela Rivera (19) because of his age at the time of the crime.
- Although the family of Guzman has received justice, their hearts will forever hurt from the loss of an innocent son, friend, and brother too many. Guzman’s mother and father gave chilling victim impact statements at the closing of the verdicts. “Of all these men, not a single one of them said, ‘No, no, don’t do it.’ That night, there were two deaths, Junior and I, who was left dead inside. As a young boy, my son dreamed of becoming a detective, so he could protect this city. Please make sure my son’s dreams come true. These killers should never be able to step out of a jail cell, so they know the moment they killed my son, they took their own lives as well,” Leandra Feliz said.
- They also arrested eight other men for involvement with the gang and the attack on Guzman. Their cases are still in progress.
Guzman’s mother and father have respectfully declined to accept the apologies of the men who murdered their son.
