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Gunman Shoots Convicted Murderer Sitting in Car in Broad Daylight: Police

Tiffany Meier
By Tiffany Meier
March 28, 2019New York
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Gunman Shoots Convicted Murderer Sitting in Car in Broad Daylight: Police
Police tape. (Tony Webster/Flickr)

A man who served 27 years in prison for convicted murder was sitting inside his car in New York City in broad daylight when a gunman opened fire on him, police say.

Police responded to a 911 call just before 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, about a shooting. Franklin Bello, 48, pulled over to the side of the road in Washington Heights when a gunman approached him and opened fire, shooting nine rounds at Bello, reported New York Daily News.

Police told the outlet that Bello was hit at least five times in the chest.

“It was an easy job,” Johnathan Colon, a witness, told the New York Daily News. “[The victim] pulls over and the guy just walks up and pow! pow! pow!”

Despite the serious injuries, Bello didn’t die immediately. He survived long enough to crawl out of his car onto the sidewalk, where he died, despite efforts of police who performed CPR.

Bello’s car lights were still blinking on and off.

Emergency Medical Responders also responded to the scene and Bello was transported to the New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said, according to Pix11.

Witnesses said that after the shooting, the gunman casually walked off down the street, gun in hand.

“People didn’t check if he was alright, they just went into the car to see what they could steal,” Colon said of Bello. “He was in the driver’s side agonizing and he got out of the passenger side where the blood is on the sidewalk,” he added.

Police chased the gunman on foot into a building but then lost him, according to WABC.

The gunman is described as a Hispanic man in his 20s. He was wearing a black baseball cap and black jacket at the time of the shooting, police said.

No arrests have been made and the motive for the shooting is unknown. The investigation is still ongoing, authorities said.

Bello’s niece told NBC New York she has no idea why anyone would want to hurt her uncle. “I have no idea. I just don’t … it’s not right for the person to take somebody’s life away. Only God can do that,” she said.

Police told the New York Daily News that Bello spent 27 years in prison after fatally shooting a 22-year-old man in Brooklyn in 1991 when Bello was 20 years old.

In 1992, Bello was convicted of murder in the second degree, according to court documents. He was released from prison in 2008 but then arrested again shortly afterwards. He was convicted of “criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of marihuana in the second degree and criminal use of drug paraphernalia in the second degree,” according to the court documents.

After being convicted on drug-related felony charges in 2010, he served seven more years in prison.

Bello is survived by two grown sons and a young granddaughter. He is said to have been “just getting his life back together,” his family said, according to Pix11.

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