The family of a 12-year-old boy killed by a stray bullet in the Bronx is demanding harsher penalties for people who recklessly take a child's life, pointing to New York criminal justice policies that they say have failed to keep repeat offenders off the streets. Relatives of Jacob Freytes are pushing for a measure they call «Jacob's Law», which would require life sentences for anyone convicted under those circumstances.
Jacob was riding his bicycle to a neighborhood bodega to buy a ball when gunfire broke out during an alleged street dispute. The boy was struck and killed. Two other adults were wounded in the shooting, according to police. Jacob was the son of a retired NYPD detective sergeant, adding to the shock that rippled through the community.
Police arrested William Ferrer, 45, and charged him with multiple offenses, including second-degree murder. Ferrer has pleaded not guilty. His arrest record spans more than 25 years and includes prior charges for drunk driving, drug possession, menacing, and criminal contempt.
The boy's mother, Migdalia Martinez, described the anguish of learning about the shooting while she was at work. «I gave him a kiss, and I walked out, and we always do a little dolphin kiss. And I walked out and went to work,» she said in an interview Tuesday. «Around five o'clock, they called me and said that he had gotten shot. And all I could do was try to think of different ways to get here faster.» When Martinez arrived, she said, her son was gone.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responded to the arrest in a post on X, saying that Jacob was an innocent bystander on his bike when he was taken from his family in an act of senseless gun violence. «No arrest can ever ease the pain of this unimaginable loss, but the NYPD will continue to do everything in our power to seek justice for Jacob,» Tisch wrote.
The family's proposed «Jacob's Law» is at the center of their campaign. Angelica Coriano, Jacob's sister, said the measure would remove the uncertainty families face after a child is killed. «It will allow for there to be no in-between whether somebody goes to jail or not for taking a child's life recklessly,» Coriano said. «It'll allow for criminals to go straight to jail or prison instead of the family having to go to court continuously hoping and wondering if they're going to get the justice that they deserve for the child that they lost.»
Martinez and Coriano also criticized New York's crime policies, including cash bail reforms for misdemeanors and the end of stop-and-frisk, which they said have made the streets safer for offenders than for law-abiding residents. «It's just so much that they allow that, at this point, it's just safer more for the criminals than it is for hardworking people,» Martinez said.
The family acknowledged the charges filed against Ferrer but said they still worried about whether he would serve enough prison time if convicted. Coriano described the uncertainty as deeply uncomfortable for a family that will never see Jacob again. While they wait for the case to move forward, they are hoping lawmakers will turn their grief into a lasting change in the law.
Martinez remembered her son as a funny, quirky kid who loved video games and doted on people around him. «There wasn't an old woman he didn't help with bags or cross the street,» she said. «There wasn't a person that if he caught your eye, he'd make sure to tell you hi.»
