By Rocco Parascandola
Source New York Daily News
A Bronx man died in a hail of police bullets Thursday after he opened fire on cops who’d found him burglarizing the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, who had accused him of rape.
The officers were responding to an apartment building on Bronx Blvd. at E. 224th St. in Wakefield just after 1:30 p.m. when they encountered 27-year-old Yoskar Feliz inside his ex’s first-floor apartment, police sources said.
Feliz broke into the same apartment on Jan. 9 and raped his ex, chillingly telling her, “I deserve this. I am going to die anyway,” according to a court filing.
On Thursday, that prediction came true.
The building super saw Feliz enter on a security camera, and when cops arrived, they found the ex-girlfriend outside, sources said.
“He’s inside,” said Feliz’s ex.
Officers entered the apartment, and the suspect refused demands that he drop his gun, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey told reporters.
One of the officers then fired a Taser at the suspect, Corey said. “The male ran into a bedroom, fired two shots, broke a window and fled out of the window,” said Corey.
Feliz then dashed into the street and across a park, while the officers gave chase and backup arrived, Corey said.
Feliz turned toward the officers, gun in hand, as he stood next to the Bronx River, and three cops opened fire, hitting him in the torso and leg, Corey said.
Feliz then ran into a shallow part of the Bronx River before he was taken into custody, Corey said. Police pulled what they believe to be his gun from the river.
Cops rendered first aid, but Feliz later succumbed to his wounds at Jacobi Medical Center, police said.
None of the officers were shot or injured, though they went to an area hospital for evaluation, possibly for ringing in the ears after firing a gun, sources said.
Corey said the suspect has a criminal record, with two prior felony arrests and one misdemeanor bust.
When Feliz was busted in August on charges he stuck up a Bronx Verizon store, his ex bailed him out, sources said. That case was still pending on Thursday, court records show. He was accused of pulling a gun inside the Riverdale store on Aug. 9, forcing the staff to take him into a safe room, and stealing $30,000 worth of phones and electronics.
On Jan. 9, Feliz broke into her apartment, waking her up, according to a criminal complaint.
“I am here to show you I changed. I am not the same person,” he allegedly said.
But when the woman tried to flee, Feliz — who was 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds — pulled her into the bedroom, threatened to kill her and took her phone, court papers say.
He clapped his hands on her nose and mouth, demanded her phone password, then put a box-cutter to his own neck and threatened to kill himself.
“The only way I’ll leave is if I get what I want. Pull down your underwear. I am going to kill you, and your son will be without a mother,” he told her, according to the complaint.
He forced himself on her, telling her, “I deserve this. I am going to die anyway,” prosecutors allege.
He then told her, “I want to die, and I want to die next to you, holding your hand,” and “You deserve this. You put me through hell. I’m not going to live anyway.”
The victim’s child was home at the time.
Police arrested Feliz on Jan. 13 on more than two dozen charges, including rape and burglary. But his friends helped him make his $50,000 cash bail, said law enforcement sources. Records show Feliz was released Tuesday.
Feliz broke into his ex’s Bronx apartment Thursday just as she arrived home from testifying to a grand jury about the sex assault case, said law enforcement sources.
About a dozen relatives gathered in Feliz’s Mt. Eden apartment Thursday night to mourn him.
“The police killed him. They shot my brother illegally,” said one man, who identified himself as Feliz’s sibling. He didn’t comment further.
The shooting came just hours after a narcotics detective was injured in a wild gunfight while trying to execute a search warrant on Staten Island. Three NYPD officers have been hit by gunfire in the first 20 days of 2022.
With Kerry Burke and Thomas Tracy
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