Following the tragic fatal stabbing of 14-year-old Ángel Miguel Mendoza Hernández in the Williamsbridge Oval park in Norwood on Aug. 5, a vigil was held in the park on Aug. 22, hosted by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) and his team in conjunction with Heather Guerino of Crusaders for Children’s Rights.

 

Angel’s family attended the event, which was held at the site where the young teen was killed in front of the recreation center, where a memorial tribute of candles, flowers, and messages had gradually expanded in the weeks since the stabbing. Also in attendance were friends of the family, residents, representatives of local community groups, clergy, members of the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct, the 52nd Precinct Community Council, and other NYPD units, NYC Parks, and other elected officials, including Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr. (A.D. 80).

 

As reported, five teens were arrested in connection with the stabbing and four were later charged with murder, while others are still sought. The incident shocked the local community who called for more protection for people frequenting the park. [The stabbing was followed by some disturbing rapes close to the same area to where the murder took place.]

 

It was seemingly not the first time Angel’s mom had been back to the scene of the crime. She had been seen being driven to the site to visit the candle memorial and messages on another occasion, yet on her arrival for the vigil, the location understandably generated demonstrable pain, and she was seen being held and consoled by friends, her husband, and other young children as tears streamed down her cheeks in anguish for her lost son.

Addressing those gathered in English and Spanish, Rivera said in part, “We are gathered here today to honor and remember the life of Ángel Miguel Mendoza, a young man whose life was taken too soon. To Ms. Ramona Hernández and family, I cannot fathom the pain you are experiencing.” The senator said, as a community, people had gathered to offer support, sincere condolences, and to mourn the heartbreaking loss of Angel, and to stand against the violence that took his life too soon.

 

“We are here mourning,” he said before asking members of the clergy to lead the group in prayer. “I want to express my appreciation for the 52nd Precinct for working diligently on making the arrests that have already been made,” he continued in part. “Every single person who was involved must be held accountable to the full extent of the law, and we will make sure that that happens and that justice is served.”

 

Rev. Candido Gonzalez, vice president of the clergy council for the 52nd Precinct, later delivered some remarks and prayers in English and Spanish, blessing the family and saying in part, “Today, we’re here to mourn the loss of a young man, along with their family, because the Bible says that when our community hurts, we’re supposed to hurt with them. We’re supposed to be alongside by them, and go through the mourning along with them, so we can give them that support that they need.”

He added, “Most merciful God, whose wisdom is beyond our understanding, deal graciously with those who mourn. Surround them with your love, that they may not be overwhelmed by their loss, but have confidence in your goodness and strength to meet the days to come, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We all say, Amen.”

 

 Zaccaro Jr. said in part that he had come with prepared remarks, but added the reality was that there was not much that could be said that hadn’t already been said. “We’ve seen this time and time again, and the only questions that I continue to ask myself is when is enough enough?” the assemblyman asked. In reference to violence in general in the community, he added, “I’m tired. I was fortunate enough to leave my three children at home, playing with their iPads, to have to come and see a mother who’s mourning the loss of her 14-year-old son.”

 

He added in part, “As a father of three children, I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to come home and find out that I lost a child due to an act of violence. It shocks me to the core. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action, and if you take a look at all those behind us, this is what we’re doing here today. We’re standing here in solidarity, understanding that while this is a situation that took place, we don’t accept it. We have a beautiful recreation center here that millions of dollars were invested in, a beautiful park that over the years we’ve invested millions of dollars [in], to provide a space for children to come and play, and grow and feel safe.”

The assemblyman said the park is meant to be a place for joy, laughter and growth. “Unfortunately, it’s become a place where we mourn the life of a young man who was taken from us. Parks should be sanctuaries. They should be places where children chase dreams, where families gather, where neighbors can come together. It’s not too much to ask. Angel came here to be with friends. He came here to laugh, to live, and unfortunately, he didn’t walk out of this park. But today, we know that he watches over, and he stands over our shoulders.”

 

Zaccaro Jr. went on to say that more needed to be done, and that more had been demanded of the NYPD and City Parks’ department. “We’ve demanded more of the agencies that are here and [that] are designed to protect and ensure that communities like ours have our equal fair share of services,” he said, adding that over the coming weeks, he would be meeting with colleagues in government and other community leaders to figure out a plan of action.

 

“Because the reality is what we have right now doesn’t seem to be enough, and so I’m calling on every single city agency, every department head, every single citywide elected official to join us in making a commitment to ensure that we don’t have to continue burying our young people,” the assemblyman added in part. “One life lost is one life too many. This family is not alone. They don’t have to suffer alone and they don’t have to go through this process alone. My commitment to you and to this family is that we will not rest until Angel has justice.”

For her part, after thanking all those present and those who organized the event, the borough president said in part, “It’s so sad and it’s so heartbreaking that we are joined here in solidarity and in love to celebrate the life of a 14-year-old young man who had so much promise and potential, Angel Miguel Mendoza. We honor his life. We stand with his family, with mom and dad, and siblings and loved ones, with the Norwood community, with his school community. He was set to start school in a couple of weeks like so many others. It is so heartbreaking, and it reminds us of the work that must continue.”

 

Gibson added in part that both children and adults deserved to be safe. “Parks are safe spaces, and we always want to make sure that we are constantly doing this work. Any life that we lose is a death that could have been prevented,. As your Bronx borough president, I, too, take this deeply personally because Angel Miguel was our child. He was a son, a brother.”

 

The borough president continued, “He was a neighbor in this park at Williamsbridge Oval, like so many others on a beautiful day, on a Tuesday, on National Night Out, playing basketball like we expect all of our children to do, and all we expect is for him to return home the same way that he left, and his life was cut short by other young people that had intention to impose violence on a young man.”

She continued, “It is sad, community, and this is not reflective of who we are as a community, as Norwood, and certainly as a borough, and to me, every action, every tragedy that we are faced with in this borough is a call to action and attention. We will turn pain into purpose, and we will turn our storm into strength. We will stand with this family as we do with every other family that is mourning the loss of a child, of a loved one.”

 

Gibson said it was not acceptable and not normal what happened. She called for all hands on deck and for collective responsibility. “We have to make sure that we’re working with community partners and organizations on short and long-term goals,” she said. “How do we make sure that we get rid of violence? We get rid of weapons, and we focus on programs, youth programs, and recreation that matters.” She ended by saying she would continue to pray for the family.

 

Angel’s father also addressed those gathered saying he wanted to make sure his wife is supported, as well as obtaining justice for his son. Speaking in Spanish and in reference to his son’s killers, he said in part that nobody had the right to take the life of another person, especially when that person has done nothing to harm any another person. Remembering his son, he said, “He was a marvelous child, calm, loving, and loyal as a friend.”

 

For her part, Guerino said her heart was broken. “Anyone that knows me knows I’m an advocate for the children. This is personal because Angel looks like my godson. He’s also from the Dominican Republic. So, when I found out about what happened to Angel, this was personal. I like coming to the Oval to celebrate, have fun, and do great activities like the Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, not coming here for this. We have to do better as a community. We all have to do much better. If you see something, say something. That’s all I’m asking everyone to do.”

Vigil Held for Ángel Miguel Mendoza Hernández, Williamsbridge Oval, Norwood, Aug. 22, 2025. V2

Seemingly in reference to the killers, Guerino said in part that laws were needed to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions. “This is unacceptable. In some states, parents are held accountable for their children’s actions. We need to make sure, as parents, you know who your children’s friends are, you know who the parents of your children’s friends are. Be involved with the PTA. Go to the school in Junior High School. Be more active. I know that there are working parents who say, ‘Oh, I don’t have the time. I’m busy,’ This and that. You have to find the time. Make the foster agencies also accountable because a lot of our kids are aging out of foster care and they’re not getting the mental health services that they need.”

 

For her part, Clark said she told the family, “We will get justice for Angel. Four individuals have been indicted on this case. The investigation continues, but the safety of our children is a priority. This young boy should not have been killed. He was here to have fun in the park. This should have never happened. We all play a role in public safety, and I’m going to do all that I can to hold those individuals responsible.”

 

The district attorney said prosecution alone was not enough however. “We have to have the resources in our communities so that these kids are not killing kids,” she said. “The victims of the crimes and the perpetrators of the crimes are the same. They look the same. They come from the same community. This has to stop, but we also have to make sure that we do more to help our children get through this, as well as the parents that are raising their kids. The parents need the resources as well. They see their kids in trouble, and some of them feel like they can’t do anything about it. We need to help them as well.”

 

She went on to say that Angel was everyone’s child. “He didn’t just belong to this family but to all of us. So, my job is to make sure that I can protect these children and also prevent other children from being victims of the same crime so this family knows I’m here from the moment that this happened until the case is over and beyond.”

Vigil Held for Ángel Miguel Mendoza Hernández, Williamsbridge Oval, Norwood, Aug. 22, 2025. V3

Later, Norwood News spoke to the senator about the funding that had been allocated for cameras in the park given there was some discussion over which funding was for the recreation center cameras versus the cameras for the rest of the park. Rivera said his funding of about $162,000 wasn’t just for cameras but for group exercise bicycles in the gym, new wiring, monitoring software, black boxes and more.

 

Norwood News also asked the senator if there were any specific legislative initiatives in the pipeline around knife crime. “I think it’s less about knife crime or gun crime. This is a system that failed both the young man who was murdered and the young men who murdered him. Those individuals who committed this heinous crime must be held accountable to the highest extent of the law, because if you’re responsible for a death, you should be held accountable for it. There’s that, but there’s a reason why these young men felt that they needed to operate in a gang mentality, arm themselves with knives in this case, attack him for whatever reason because they figured they needed to.”

 

Rivera continued, “Maybe they thought he was somebody else, mistaken identity or whatever it was, but the point is that that these young men that committed this crime, this is not something that just happens naturally. There is a failure in the system, whether it’s the education system, the after-school programs, mental health counseling, all things to identify potential criminal activity in the future.”

The senator continued, “There’s a lot of things that we need to do, that we can do, that we must do earlier in the life of these folks, of these young people, so they don’t wind up in those places. It’s the reason why, for example, we have certainly invested in a place like this park, so that young people have something to do.” Referring to the alleged perpetrators, he added, “Obviously, those kids, we missed them, we lost them. They’re obviously going to be lost in the system somehow. They’re going to be held accountable but the question really is less about gun crime or knife crime. For me, the question is what are the things that we did that failed everyone involved here, both the victim and the victimizers.”

 

Given the confusion over whose responsibility it was to install the cameras at the rec center, we asked the senator if this could be clarified. “So it would be Parks,” Rivera said. “The funding was given to Parks and then, once they’re installed, the NYPD will be the one monitoring the cameras.”

 

Norwood News also asked Clark if there was any specific legislation or initiatives targeting knife violence. “Not necessarily,” she said. “We’re just going after violence, period, guns, knives, whatever causes the violence.” Asked if there was anything further she could say on the four people indicted, she said, “The investigation continues.”

 

Brenda Caldwell-Paris, president of the 52nd Precinct Community Council, later said the vigil was very moving. “I agree that we have to now take responsibility of our youth, especially our parents, because we we are facing a loss of generations if we don’t come together and find resources, not have it where one borough has everything and another borough only has a little bit,” she said in part. “Have things that’s meaningful to the youth, like basketball. All youth like baseball. All like soccer these days, but you got to have something that’s a little more imaginable to their mind to draw them, you know, like boxing.”

 

Norwood News mentioned the boxing program at St. Barnabas Hospital. Caldwell-Paris said in part that it was more for at-risk youth. “So we’re just talking about our average kids that are out here that can go in there [to the Oval recreation center] and have something in there for them that’s attractive like DJing.

 

Towards the end of the vigil, candles were distributed to those gathered and Rivera paid tribute to Angel’s mother and called for a moment’s silence in memory of her son. He said those wishing to write messages of support and condolences for the family on cards were encouraged to do so and that they would be gathered by his team and delivered to the family.

Residents were also informed that if they wanted to do something further to help the family, they could contact his office who he said would liaise accordingly with the family. Rivera also mentioned the GoFundMe page that had been set up, as reported at the time, to help the family with funeral expenses and one to assist with the transfer costs of Angel’s body to the Dominican Republic.

 

The senator then shared the arrangements for Angel’s funeral which took place the following day at Ortiz Funeral Home in Fordham Manor, beside Poe Park. “You can help us make donations to make sure that we can bring him to home back to the Dominican Republic,” the senator said. “So, we will remember Angel, and we will celebrate Angel.”

 

As reported, during the September 2025 monthly meeting of the 52^nd Precinct Community Council, Police Officer Klorentin Nokaj was presented with the “Police Officer of the Month” award for August for apprehending two armed male suspects sought for the Ángel‘s murder.

 

In October, it was confirmed that 22 cameras are to be installed in the Oval to help deter further crimes, and in December, Rivera confirmed that the 20 promised security cameras have since been installed both outside and inside the center.

 

Other “Argus” cameras funded by Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11) and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson have also been installed outside the entrance to the Oval on Van Cortlandt Avenue as well as another inside the park near the basketball courts.