DEADLY FIGHT
Student shot 3 times; suspect surrenders
Saturday, February 18, 2006

Jersey Journal
 
HOBOKEN - An 18-year-old Hoboken High School student was shot to death early yesterday morning during a fight on Jackson Street, said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

Antonio Rivera Jr., 19, of Harrison Street, was arrested and charged with the murder of Ismar Mineros after he walked into a Hoboken police station just before noon, less than 10 hours after the shooting, DeFazio said. He had heard police were looking for him, said DeFazio.

He is being held at the Hudson County jail in Kearny on $1 million bail.

Mineros, of Willow Avenue, was killed on the 500 block of Jackson Street at about 2:30 a.m., DeFazio said. He was shot three times with a semi-automatic handgun, twice in the chest and once in the upper right back, said the prosecutor.

Mineros was with a group of people when a fight broke out with another group, DeFazio said, adding he believes the fight stemmed from a "prior dispute."

Mineros, a high school senior who turned 18 on Jan. 3, had a life that was just coming together, his sister, Soraya Carabello, said last night at her Jersey City home.

He had just started a night job at Crest Foam in Moonachie, and was about to get his driver's license, she said.

"He told his mother, 'Ma, everything's going to be all right,'" said Carabello's husband, Harry Ordonez.

Carabello and Ordonez said they believe Mineros was caught up in a fight involving one of his friends.

When Hoboken police arrived at the scene, most people who had been there had fled, DeFazio said. But a silver BMW with New Jersey plates was left double-parked at the scene, and investigators want to question the car's owner, he said, adding that it does not belong to Rivera.

Anthony Vargas, who lives near the shooting, said he was awakened by gunfire early yesterday morning.

"I looked across the street and saw him lying there," he said.

Victor Morales, who said he was a friend of the victim, said Mineros was "cool with everybody, quiet . he minded his business."

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Prosecutor's Office at (201) 915-1345.