'The killing of Lesandro 'Junior' Guzman-Feliz was an unspeakably savage act': NYPD Commissioner

NEW YORK -- (WPIX) -- The story of the death of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz, and the manner in which the beloved Bronx teen lost his life has all but mystified a global audience, catapulting the hashtag “JusticeForJunior” across social media.

The brutal machete murder of the 15-year-old on June 20 in front of a bodega inflamed an entire Bronx community and sent shockwaves throughout the nation.

As the investigation continues into the motive of why several alleged Trinitarios gang members violently dragged Guzman-Feliz from a bodega at East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue, and hacked, stabbed and left him laying mortally wounded in front of the doors of the bodega, prominent local officials are trying to cope and help a “gang-plagued” community heal from the savage act.

Charges filed against 6 men extradited from NJ in Bronx teen murderNYPD Commissioner James O'Neill shared his thoughts on the “unspeakably savage act” in an op-ed in the New York Daily News.

Commisisoner O'Neill describes the widespread images of Guzman-Feliz running and fighting for his life as “the definition of horror.”

O'Neill goes on to say “The depraved indifference to this boy's life is made all the worse in that the child who the gang was destroying wasn't even their intended target.”

According to Leandra Feliz, his mother, Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz aspired to be a detective, and he was apart of the NYPD Law Enforcement Explorers program for teens to further that dream.

In the op-ed, Commissioner O'Neill reflects on the feeling of losing a possible NYPD family member and speaks on the heartbreaking thought of Guzman-Feliz's potential future.

O'Neill stressed the importance of Neighborhood Policing, and thanked the community for “outpouring of tips and leads” on Guzman-Feliz's murder.