NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A man pleaded guilty to attempted murder for two shootings in Tompkins Square Park within five days last March, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday.
According to court documents, at approximately 12:45 p.m. on March 16, 2024, two men chased, punched, and kicked Waldemar Alverio, 38, inside the East Village park. As they ran off, unzipped his bag and pulled out a firearm, firing at them five times.
Alverio struck one of them in the buttocks, fracturing his pelvis and lodging a bullet in his hip. Alverio also shot a bystander, a 53-year-old tourist, fracturing her right hip, which had to be surgically replaced.
Alverio then exited the park at East 9th Street and Avenue A and rode his bicycle towards 1st Avenue.
Five days later, at approximately 12:05 p.m. on March 21, 2024, Alverio returned to Tompkins Square Park, approached a group in the park, and shot at them five times.
Alverio did not strike any victims that day, but one bullet smashed through a window into a bedroom in an apartment building across the street from the park, and another bullet smashed through a window and lodged in a stairwell in a second building across from the park, officials said.
Alverio was apprehended on the Lower East Side on March 26, 2024, by police officers who recognized him from a wanted flyer.
He is expected to be sentenced on Feb.3 to a promised term of 13 years in state prison.
"Waldemar Alverio was held accountable for committing two broad-daylight shootings in Tompkins Square Park, just days apart," D.A. Bragg said. "These senseless and reckless shootings left two victims significantly injured and put the safety of many New Yorkers at risk."