Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting death of an 80-year-old Bronx man last month– and they say he’s a member of the family.
Melvin Java, 46, was arrested in Pennsylvania for killing octogenarian Marcelino Valerio as the elderly man returned home from a relative’s Sweet 16 party.
Police said Java is Valerio’s stepson, but have not yet established a motive for the murder. Java returned to the family home in the wake of the shooting and mourned his stepfather’s death, according to the U.S. Marshals Service who worked on the case.
Surveillance video from the night of the shooting captured Java circling Valerio’s block in Highbridge, dressed in all black and riding a bicycle.
Just as Valerio and his wife were about to enter their building, police said Java rode by and shot the elderly man at close range, the video shows. He died at the scene shortly after.
Luz Collado, Valerio’s wife of 44 years, told Gothamist in the aftermath of the shooting that she had no idea who would want to kill her husband.
A team of U.S. Marshals worked with the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force to track Java to his home in Reading, PA, where he was arrested without incident.
“It is especially satisfying when we can bring closure to Marcelino Valerio’s family by bringing this fugitive back to NYC to face justice,” said Ralph Sozio, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York, in a statement.
Java has been charged with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession, and is currently awaiting arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court. Attorney information for the suspect wasn’t immediately available.
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