Teen fatally shot outside NYC afterparty was future Navy recruit with a bright future, family calls for justice
The teen fatally shot outside a Bronx afterparty over the weekend was a “family boy” and future Navy recruit with a “bright future,” his grief-stricken relatives told The Post as they desperately pleaded for justice in the unsolved slaying. Juan Jose Pena, 18, was gunned down around 1:25 a.m.Sunday outside the festivities on Park Avenue near East 176th Street in the Tremont neighborhood, law enforcement sources said. A black sedan pulled up to the venue, where someone inside exchanged words with the victim before opening fire, according to the sources. Juan – who was rushed to a local hospital only to succumb to his injuries – graduated from the Bronx Leadership Academy High School last summer and was planning to join the Navy, according to his family. “I want justice for my son,” the slain teen’s mother, Anayeli Pena, told The Post in Spanish Tuesday.
“They didn’t kill a dog, they killed a son with a future, with a bright future.I don’t want his death to go unpunished.”“Justice is the only thing I can ask for,” she added.
“What else can I ask for? I want them to pay for what they did to my son.They didn’t kill a dog.
They killed a young boy full of live.They killed him and they also killed me alive.”Days after the family was devastated with the news of Juan’s death, his mother’s living room turned into a tribute for her slain son – with photos of the teen, white roses and other flowers and assorted candles decorating a table. The second-oldest of four children, Juan was born in the Dominican Republic, according to his aunt, Shery Olivo, 35, a Dominican author. He had two sisters and one brother, and lived with his stay-at-home mother.“He was a person full of love,” Olivo said.
“He was a family boy.He always helped out in the house.
For holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas – he was the one in the kitchen helping to prepare the family dinner, the turkey, the pig, diced up the potatoes.”Juan was never a tr...