Three goons were busted in the deadly shooting of a BMW driver during an ambush robbery that went awry near the New York Botanical Garden, cops said Monday.
Darlin Sanchez and Wanderlin Mateo, both 18, were part of a four-person crew who robbed and killed Amir Ahmad, 26, as he sat in the driver’s side of the luxury car on Thwaites Place near Barker Avenue in Pelham Parkway on Feb. 13 at around 12:20 a.m., authorities said.
Angelic Encarnacion, 23, was busted for luring Ahmad to the building and then callously going back to apartment after he was fatally shot, cops said.
Sanchez was the alleged shooter, according to police, but both teens were armed with guns, according to a complaint filed in Bronx Criminal Court. The two other thieves were still on the loose Monday.
Encarnacion had lured Ahmad – who lived about 4 miles away in Pelham Bay – to her home asking him to sell her marijuana, the complaint said.
But it was a ruse to ambush and rob him, according to the authorities.
Sanchez, Mateo and the other thugs were seen wearing masks and gloves as they left Encarnacion’s apartment before the deadly robbery, according to the complaint.
While in the elevator, video and audio reviewed by investigators showed Sanchez boasting that he was packing a gun, the court doc said.
The crew then ambushed Ahmad as he sat outside the building in his parked BMW – with both Sanchez and Mateo flashing guns through the open window as they demanded that he and his passenger get out, the complaint said.
When Ahmad accelerated instead, he was shot and killed, according to the filing.
The suspects got away with a gold chain and an undetermined amount of cash, law enforcement sources said.
While the deadly violence unfolded, Encarnacion waited in the lobby of her building and then callously returned to her apartment, prosecutors said.
All three were arrested on warrants Friday and charged with murder, manslaughter, attempted robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, according to cops and prosecutors.
They were ordered held without bail by a judge and are due back in court Thursday.
Mateo was also linked to a brazen gunpoint robbery the day after Ahmad’s murder at a barber shop on Bainbridge Avenue near East 213th Street, across the street from Woodlawn Cemetery, prosecutors said.
He and one other person, who is still on the loose, allegedly flashed guns at both a barber and a customer getting a haircut while removing their property, that complaint said.
He allegedly stole a wallet and keys from one of the men, and jewelry and cash from the other, cops said.
Mateo has one prior arrest for a Bronx robbery back in May, and Sanchez was previously nabbed for criminal sale of a controlled substance in November, police said.
Encarnacion has no prior arrests, cops said.