Webster Ave. is Dodge City

Photograph: SCENE OF THE SLAYING: The Tremont bodega that was robbed last week. Photo Credit: David Lefer.

By J.D. Heiman, Staff Reporter

A stick up. A store clerk determined not to be robbed again. And an illegal handgun.

These elements combined last week in Mount Hope with deadly result: A teenager, who may or may not have been an innocent bystander, was killed by a bodega worker who had just been robbed.

"It's a Dodge City situation in this neighborhood," said Michael Brown, Youth Services Coordinator for Community Board 9. "The so-called bad guys have guns so the so-called good people are arming themselves for protection.''

Nelson Cordero, 15, was buried Thursday. Sigfrido Pena, 33, the bodega clerk who police say shot him, is now facing manslaughter and weapons charges.

"Why him, Why him?" said Diana Cruz, 22, who knew Nelson. "He never drank, smoked or used drugs. He wasn't the type of child you'd see hanging out at the corner. He was at home playing with his computer."

But neighbors also spoke highly of Pena. "He is a good man. He was never in any trouble," said Mercedes Pena, the suspect's sister-in-law.

The tragedy apparently took shape two weeks before Nelson died when Pena was held up by shotgun-toting bandits at the Los Pancho's Deli Grocery at 178th Street and Webster Avenue.

Pena bought a gun -- a Taurus 9mm. semi-automatic -- after that, said Mercedes Pena.

"Bodegas are really our only businesses around here, so they are major focus of robberies," said Lt. Robert Mariani of the 46th Precinct.

"Many people figure they might do time for felony possession of a weapon," said Mariani. "But they'd rather have one on them than have somebody get the jump on them." There were 1,745 reported robberies in the area last year.

The evening of Feb. 18, two men walked into Los Pancho's, pointed guns and announced a stick up, police said.

Pena told police the robbers fled up 178th Street towards the Grand Concourse.

About the same time, witnesses said, Nelson and a friend, Robert Nedd, left the Webster Variety, where they had been playing video games.

Pena flew out of the store and started firing in the direction of the fleeing robbers, which was also toward Nelson and his friend, police and witnesses said.

"He had no aim. He was firing crazy," said Lisa Morris, 18, who was at the scene. "Nelson didn't do anything. It could have happened to anyone."

Nelson, hit once in the body, fell mortally wounded at 178th Street and Valentine Avenue, less than 100 yards from the bodega and not far from the Echo Park courts where friends said he loved to play basketball.

Pena and a co-worker, Manuel Hernandez, initially told police Nelson and Nedd had been responsible for both bodega robberies.

But neither Nelson nor Nedd were armed when police arrived, and a crowd of witnesses insisted the pair were merely bystanders.

Hernandez declined to talk to reporters.

"This is still a sketchy case," said Mariani, "what is clear is that Pena fired an illegal gun, which is a felony."

To Nelson's friends and family, the suggestion he could be involved in any kind of criminal activity was incomprehensible.

"He was a nice quiet boy. He never did nothing to nobody," said Sharelle Renee, 14, who attends Theodore Roosevelt High School, where Nelson was a sophomore.

Cruz said Nelson's mother, Jenny Lopez, always sent her son away to summer camp to keep him out of trouble, and pushed him to do well at school.

"He was her pride and joy," said Cruz. "He was the last child on earth that would rob a store.''

Nelson's sister Charmaine said the family was too upset to talk to reporters.

"Everybody's trying to understand this," said Cruz. "Nobody knows how something like this could happen to a boy like him."


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The Bronx Beat, February 27, 1995