Detectives say the man told them he pulled the trigger in Wednesday's shooting at the West Side Efficiency Motel.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published July 3, 2005
HUDSON - Carlos Oscar Fuentes told detectives his robbery partner was in a struggle with their victim.
Fuentes wore a bandanna over his face. In his hand, he said, was a .45-caliber handgun.
Shoot him, shoot him, Fuentes said his partner yelled.
So, Fuentes said, he pulled the trigger.
Fuentes' statement came late Friday as he was arrested in Wednesday's shooting at the West Side Efficiency Motel, which left a man dead and a woman seriously injured.
The 19-year-old's arrest was the fourth in the case. Two former Ridgewood High School athletes and another young man were arrested Thursday.
Though Fuentes says he fired the gun, all four young men face charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. All could face life in prison or the death penalty.
Authorities were still searching Saturday for a fifth suspect - the man Fuentes says told him to shoot.
Fuentes' mother, Sonia Aponte, had not yet heard the news Saturday morning when a reporter came to her door in New Port Richey.
Sleepy-eyed, she said she had woken from a nightmare earlier, in which she searched for her son and found him naked in a place where people wanted to hurt him. She got him away from them, but they gave chase and managed to shoot him.
Told of her son's arrest, Aponte sat down and cried. "That's why I got a bad dream this morning," she said.
She said she last spoke with her son Wednesday night. She knew authorities were looking for him in connection with the shooting, but she thought they only wanted information from him.
"What did you do? The cops are looking for you," she said.
"No Mommy," she said he replied. "I didn't do nothing."
Fuentes' stepfather, Hillbren Aponte, came home to comfort Fuentes' mother. He said Fuentes collects disability from Social Security because he is "slow."
When doctors tested him to see if he qualified for the help, his stepfather said, Fuentes could not solve even simple problems.
"One time they put a picture of a door with no hinges," Hillbren Aponte said. "He never could figure out what was missing in that door."
The Apontes said Fuentes' troubles often stemmed from the bad influences of his friends.
"He's the dummy of the group," Hillbren Aponte said. "He's the one they're going to blame with everything."
Fuentes was born in Puerto Rico, but spent much of his youth in New York, the Apontes said. They said he dropped out of high school after completing the 10th grade.
In March, Fuentes was arrested in New Port Richey after a police officer approached him, thinking he looked like he may have been dealing drugs. The officer reported Fuentes shoved him and fled, discarding a bag containing .38-caliber bullets as he ran.
He has been in and out of jail, convicted of possessing marijuana in 2003 and for a burglary last year, in which he broke the front glass of a Hudson beverage store and stole some things.
Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll would not say how detectives found Fuentes. But Sheriff's Office reports say he was arrested in the Hudson Hills Manor government housing complex at 15915 Tricourt Drive. Doll said Fuentes was found with the murder weapon.
A woman who answered the door there Saturday morning said she did not want to comment.
Those arrested Thursday in the case were former Ridgewood athletes Bryan Presley and Anthony Ponds, as well as Leonard Joseph Rera, all 19 years old.
Authorities say the group had planned a robbery, not a murder. They wanted to steal drugs from 46-year-old John Faulkner, who was killed in the shooting. Jessica Diaz, 26, was standing behind him and was seriously injured, detectives say, by the same bullet.
Sheriff's officials say the robbers got away with only a fishing tackle box, empty except for a metal scrubbing pad. Such pads can be used in the smoking of cocaine.
Detectives are looking for the box, which they say the robbers tossed out the window.
