Teen charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting tourist in Times Square, firing at officer

(NEW YORK) — A 15-year-old is facing attempted murder charges after allegedly shooting and injuring a tourist in Times Square and firing at a responding officer on Wednesday, police said.

Jesus Alejandro Rivas Figueroa is charged as an adult with two counts of attempted murder, assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon, police said Saturday.

Figueroa, the subject of an intense manhunt before his arrest by U.S. Marshals Friday, was remanded into custody at the request of prosecutors who said he was an “extreme flight risk.” According to charging documents, the teen was arrested at a house in Yonkers where he had fled with his mother after the shooting.

The teen has only been in the U.S. for a short time and has “significant” ties outside the country, the charging documents state.

The shooting unfolded after three teenage boys — two aged 15 and another 16 — entered JD Sports, a clothing and sneaker store, at about 7 p.m. Thursday and started stealing merchandise on the second floor, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said. Two of the three suspects went to the lobby, where a female security guard confronted them and took back the stolen property, Chell said.

A 15-year-old suspect then fired a .45-caliber handgun toward the security guard but instead shot a 38-year-old woman visiting New York from Brazil, police said.

The woman, who was shot just above her left knee, hid in a storage room before she was taken to a hospital in stable condition, police said. She’s since been treated and released, police said.

The gunman fled a few blocks away where he fired two shots at a pursuing officer “without a single thought of who he might hit or who he might kill,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said during a press briefing on Friday announcing the arrest of the suspected shooter.

“Considering where the shootings took place, it’s an actual miracle that we’re not having a very different conversation right now,” Caban said.

The officer wasn’t hit and didn’t return fire because there were too many people nearby, police said.

The suspect then dumped his shoes and jacket and escaped to a subway station where he ran onto the tracks, police said.

He later ran out of the subway and was at large for nearly 24 hours before his apprehension.

“Pristine” photos released of the suspects helped lead to the identification of the suspected shooter, police said.

“An attack on a cop is an attack on all of us!” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry tweeted.

An attack on a cop is an attack on all of us! Take a good look at this wanted flyer. This coward shot at a hard working, innocent New Yorker and then opened fire on one of our officers. Those cops did what we all expect them to do — they went toward the danger. This individual… pic.twitter.com/YKBb6UJJSa

— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) February 9, 2024

The 16-year-old boy who was with the gunman at the clothing store is in custody and investigators are working to determine his role, police said at a news conference Friday.

The 15-year-old who did not fire the weapon at the store was interviewed by detectives and released, according to police. All three go to school together.

The gunman is also a suspect in a Jan. 27 armed robbery in the Bronx and a “shots fired” incident in Midtown Manhattan, police said. Police said the suspect is from Venezuela and arrived in the U.S. in September.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.

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