Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Dec. 13 that the last of the defendants in the June 20, 2018 fatal stabbing of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz, who was also a member of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang, has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for his role in the killing. He had previously pleaded not guilty.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “This is the last of 13 defendants who had a role in the death of Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz to be held accountable. Although the defendant did not stab the victim, his actions led to the horrifying death of the innocent teen. He and the other five defendants who already pleaded guilty to manslaughter will be sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12-18 years in January 2023. This brings an end to the case, but will never bring closure for Junior’s grieving family.”

 

Clark said Danel Fernandez, 25, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Dec. 13 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio. He will be sentenced to 18 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision on Jan. 13, 2023.

According to the investigation, on the night of June 20, 2018, Fernandez and the other co-defendants, under the direction of leaders of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang, Diego Suero and Frederick Then, conspired to commit violence against the “Sunset” Trinitarios members. The defendants came upon Junior and chased him to a bodega located on East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue. Fernandez and five others punched and dragged Junior out of the store, where five others hacked him with knives and a machete.

 

Twelve people were initially charged in July 2018 in connection to the case. Another suspect was later charged in Sept. 2018. The five co-defendants who stabbed Junior were convicted of murder and sentenced in 2019. On July 29 this year, as reported, the two leaders of the “Los Sures” set of the Trinitarios gang, Suero, then 33, of Boston Road, the leader, and Then, then 24, of Reading, PA, second-in-command, were found guilty of second-degree murder.

 

Suero and Then were sentenced in September 2022 for orchestrating the attack. The remaining defendants pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter last month, as reported.

The case against Danel Fernandez was prosecuted by assistant district attorney, Morgan Dolan, counsel in the Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Christine Scaccia, chief of the Homicide Bureau, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the Trial Division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the Trial Division.

 

Some friends of Junior’s spoke to Norwood News about his legacy on the first anniversary of his death in 2019. A street renaming in his honor had taken place earlier that year.