Joining Smith in court this afternoon were Kaylon Matura and Andrew Willoughby. They were charged for the attempted murder of 19-year-old Kareem Stevens who is probably alive tonight only because the gun jammed. As we reported last night, on Monday night Stevens was riding his bike on Central American Boulevard when four men approached him and pointed a 9-millimeter gun in his face and pulled the trigger. It didn’t fire. CIB Chief Guzman says the motive was an old beef.
Supt. Aaron Guzman,
“There was a complaint made to us two days ago where a gentleman Matura and Willoughby had assaulted another person with a firearm so both of them were arrested and formally arrested today and escorted over. These are the fruits of ongoing investigations and cooperation from members of the public so that gives us the opportunity to close in on these crimes reported to us.”
Keith Swift,
For the incident with Mr. Kaylon Matura, do you know why they wanted to shoot the alleged victim?
Supt. Aaron Guzman,
"Apparently there seems to be some back and forth with someone else and that is why we believe Matura and Willoughby did assault the other gentlemen."
Keith Swift,
The story that we heard is that the gun jammed and that’s why this man escaped being shot. Is that what happened?
Supt. Aaron Guzman,
“Well the complaint is that the gun was pointed at the gentleman and the trigger was pulled. If it jammed or the bullet didn’t explode, I can’t say because we didn’t retrieve that firearm to do those checks but obviously the gun was pointed and the trigger was pulled
to try to shoot the gentleman.”
Willoughby and Matura were similarly remanded to prison along with Ernest Sacasa. He was today charged for allegedly shooting Julius Gonzalez on September 12th.
Gonzalez told police that he was about to close the door of his home on Rivero Street when a man identified as Karl Whittaker, who was being chased, came running towards him. Whittaker ran into Gonzalez’s yard and the gunman opened fire. One of those shots hit Gonzalez in his left thigh. Sacasa joins Glenford Williams in jail; he was charged on Monday.
