11-14-2006, 03:43 AM
A hardworking Mexican immigrant was shot and killed execution-style early yesterday in a bizarre case of mistaken identity that exploded on a trendy West Side street, cops said.
Fauzto Lopez, 40, was walking to his cleaning job at a Hell's Kitchen bar when two men confronted him and wrongly accused him of beating one of them with a wooden plank moments earlier.
One of the men allegedly pumped several bullets into the unsuspecting father of four, then finished him off with two more shots to the head, cops and witnesses said.
"They just jumped him," said Edison Hernandez, a witness.
Suspects Anthony Reed, 27, and Larry Campbell, 31, both of the Bronx, were nabbed nearby and were being questioned by cops late last night. Charges were pending, police officials said.
The murder was one of eight slayings during a bloody weekend across the city.
Lopez's widow and children were left to mourn the loss of a breadwinner who never sought a fight.
"He was a good man. He was a very good father for \[our\] kids," said his wife, Gloria Huero.
"All our family, he took care of us," added his daughter Nancy, 12.
The tragic story unfolded after 4 a.m. when Reed, who had been partying at a nightclub, got into a drunken fight with two Hispanic men on the corner of 48th St. and Ninth Ave., cops said.
One of the men slammed Reed with a wooden board, then they both ran off.
Enraged, Reed looked for help and found his buddy Campbell, who pulled up in a late-model BMW with the vanity license plate 8 TO 10, cops said.
They went north on Ninth Ave., where cops say they ran into Lopez, who was on his way from the subway to work at the Ninth Avenue Saloon. Police suspect the men mistook Lopez for one of the attackers.
Lopez was knocked to the ground and shot, cops and witnesses said.
"I heard the shots and saw the guy on the floor," said Cruz Vazquez, 23, of Queens. "He shot him four times and then another two times in the head when he was on the \[ground\]."
The shooter tried to run but stumbled to the ground. Cops found a 9-mm. handgun dumped in a sewer where they suspect he tossed it. Lopez had worked cleaning and laborer jobs since coming to New York from his hometown of Puebla, Mexico, 24 years ago.
He once lived on 10th Ave., but moved to Queens and continued to work early-morning hours at the bar as well a second job at a deli.
"He was an excellent person," said Pedro Xelo, 39, a friend. "He just lived and worked for his family."
The family is hoping to raise enough money to send Lopez's body home to Mexico for burial.
After hours of crying, his grieving wife struggled to express her rage at the accused killers.
"They should be punished," she said. "Right now, I don't have the words
Now I ask you: How much of a dumb cocksucker are you to forget what the dick that hit you with a plank of wood looked like?
Fauzto Lopez, 40, was walking to his cleaning job at a Hell's Kitchen bar when two men confronted him and wrongly accused him of beating one of them with a wooden plank moments earlier.
One of the men allegedly pumped several bullets into the unsuspecting father of four, then finished him off with two more shots to the head, cops and witnesses said.
"They just jumped him," said Edison Hernandez, a witness.
Suspects Anthony Reed, 27, and Larry Campbell, 31, both of the Bronx, were nabbed nearby and were being questioned by cops late last night. Charges were pending, police officials said.
The murder was one of eight slayings during a bloody weekend across the city.
Lopez's widow and children were left to mourn the loss of a breadwinner who never sought a fight.
"He was a good man. He was a very good father for \[our\] kids," said his wife, Gloria Huero.
"All our family, he took care of us," added his daughter Nancy, 12.
The tragic story unfolded after 4 a.m. when Reed, who had been partying at a nightclub, got into a drunken fight with two Hispanic men on the corner of 48th St. and Ninth Ave., cops said.
One of the men slammed Reed with a wooden board, then they both ran off.
Enraged, Reed looked for help and found his buddy Campbell, who pulled up in a late-model BMW with the vanity license plate 8 TO 10, cops said.
They went north on Ninth Ave., where cops say they ran into Lopez, who was on his way from the subway to work at the Ninth Avenue Saloon. Police suspect the men mistook Lopez for one of the attackers.
Lopez was knocked to the ground and shot, cops and witnesses said.
"I heard the shots and saw the guy on the floor," said Cruz Vazquez, 23, of Queens. "He shot him four times and then another two times in the head when he was on the \[ground\]."
The shooter tried to run but stumbled to the ground. Cops found a 9-mm. handgun dumped in a sewer where they suspect he tossed it. Lopez had worked cleaning and laborer jobs since coming to New York from his hometown of Puebla, Mexico, 24 years ago.
He once lived on 10th Ave., but moved to Queens and continued to work early-morning hours at the bar as well a second job at a deli.
"He was an excellent person," said Pedro Xelo, 39, a friend. "He just lived and worked for his family."
The family is hoping to raise enough money to send Lopez's body home to Mexico for burial.
After hours of crying, his grieving wife struggled to express her rage at the accused killers.
"They should be punished," she said. "Right now, I don't have the words
Now I ask you: How much of a dumb cocksucker are you to forget what the dick that hit you with a plank of wood looked like?