It’s revealed that the ex-college hoopster Jesse Parrilla who was shot and burned beyond recognition in a car at a Bronx park in the deadly gang war was an innocent bystander. Jesse was not part of the gang war but ended up being a victim of retaliatory shootings “that erupted after Huang griped to her gangster pals that a rival crew mugged her last Sunday, stealing her handbag”.
The New York Post has more;
Parrilla was not a part of deadly beef between the rival Up the Hill and the Down the Hill crews, the sources said — and only wound up getting mixed up in the bloodshed while spending time with Huang.
“Right now it looks like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” one Manhattan cop said. “He has no criminal record. It looks like he was just hanging out with Nikki.”
The ex-hoopster’s mother, Michelle Morales, who owned the car the pair was killed in, said her son knew Huang from middle school.
“He was a good-hearted person just helping a friend out with a ride,” she said through tears. “I don’t think he was aware of anything. He had no idea what was going on because he would never put himself in a situation like that.
“I’m so angry and devastated and hurt that my son was taken away from me just like that. The last words he said to me when I was finally able to talk to him was, ‘I love you.’”
The bodies of the tragic young couple were found in the charred car around 4:30 a.m. Monday at the Pelham/Split Rock Golf Course in the Bronx — with few clues to help cops.
But detectives now suspect that the tragic series of events that led to the young couple being shot to death and burned were sent in motion after Huang, 23, was robbed near a housing project on the Lower East Side.
Her assailants were allegedly members of a local crew that calls itself the Down the Hill Gang, law enforcement sources said.
Flip to the next page to see photos of Jesse Parrilla and scenes from the shootings…
