Gang member guilty of killing teen

JACKSON SQ.—One of two gang members charged with the 2007 killing of a 13-year-old boy in a case of mistaken identity pleaded guilty last week.

Darrell Rodrigues, 21, was immediately sentenced to 14 to 15 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter and other charges, including attempting to terrorize a witness in the case, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Nuradeen Alabi, 21, the other suspect in the case, will face trial later.

Prosecutors say Luis Gerena, a Mission Hill resident, was shot to death in the Bromley-Heath housing development when Rodrigues and Alab—who were 16 and 17 years old at the time—wrongly targeted him as a rival gang member. Rodrigues and Alabi were both residents of the New Academy Estates development across Columbus Avenue from Bromley-Heath. There is a longstanding turf war between gangs from the developments, police and prosecutors have said.

Gerena was shot multiple times. Rodrigues was not the one who pulled the trigger, according to the DA’s Office.

At a May 16 court hearing, Gerena’s mother, Wendy Jiminian, delivered a victim impact statement.

“At least we’ll feel some closure,” she said, according to the DA’s Office. “At least I can go home and tell my other kids justice was served.”